We knew this was a far shol but we had in our favor a new provision in the 1987 constitution that provided would take two life times to realize. He sent the Rome Statute ofthe ICC to the Senate for concurrence, paving thai the court may exercise its rule making powers in the promotion of constitutional and human rights. We argued that because our jurisprudence in the Philippines since the time of Yamashita and Kuroda ihe way for our membership to ihe International has recognized that IHL is binding in our jurisdiction despite the fact that during those times we were our domestic legal systems fail or are unwilling to prosecuie perpetrators of the most serious breaches of international law, we have obligated ourselves to allow the ICC to exercise its competence instead. A membership to the ICC without a doubt is signal, to one and all, that the Philippines will not allow neither a party to the Ceneva or Hague conventions and neither did we have the IHL law , that it was still binding because of our incorporation clause, or the phrase in our constitution which provides that we recognize the generally accepted principles of international law automatically as a part of the laws As predicted, the court rejected our proposal. lt was rejected purportedly on the ground that legislation was required to confer in our coutts the jurisdiction to try individuals for war crimes. Until today, I maintain the contrary to be true. Othenrvise, the heirs of Kuroda and Yamashita should be paid compensation by ihe state because both of them argued at that time that I impunity to persist accomplishments of the Aquino administration continues. What has not been mentioned by the earlier speakers is that we have also become a parly to the 1997 First Additional Protocol to the Ceneva Convention and the Optional The list of the land. the aw was necessa Criminal Court It is this act, perhaps, which stands as the ultimate testament to this administration's resolve to end impunity in this country. For when ry for thei r co nvictio n. Fo rtu nately, of Protocol to the Convention againstTorture. Under the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention, the Philippines now ranks among the countries that have undertaken to insulate civilian populations from the adverse consequences of armed conflicts. it did not take too long before we had this IHL Law. A are no longer with us to celebrate the Second National ratification of the 0ptional Protocol on Torture Convention in turn, had the effect of our country recognizing the jurisdiction of the Committee against IHL Summil and I refer specifically to the late Justice Torture, Leonor lnes Luciano who was chairof lHLCommittee of against Torture. This will now enable our nationals to submit individual communications to the said body when they feel that their rights under the ln 2009, as a result of tireless efforts of individuals who PNRC as well as Chairperson Purificacion 0uisumbing who created the first IHL desk in the Commission on Human Rights and of course Senator Cordon who sponsored the measure in Congress together with the monitoring body of the Convention convention against torture are not being promoted and prosecuted by our government tireless individuals of the government academe, ICRC and the civil society. We have, as mentioned by earlier Finally, in recognition that enforced disappearance is law codified the applicability not only of war crimes, the ultimate form of torture to its victims who do not know if they should weep for the loss of their loved crimes against humanity and genocide, it also codified ones or still hope ihat they would be found, Congress the applicability of exercise of universal jurisdiction for the criminal prosecution of these crimes. The fad is has passed its flnal version of the Anti-enforced Disappearance Law. For the first time it provides for the elements and the penalty of the crime of desaparecidos. This promises to be the flrst law of its kind in the whole of Asia. Here, I am confldent that the President will either sign this bill into law or will allow it to lapse into one. Every single bone in my body tells me that he will not veto it lndeed, what we have learned, is that it takes an administration speakers today, as our IHL law, RA No. 9851. This that prosecutions are not subjed to prescription and the defense of sovereign immunity, a defense of sitting presidents, may no longer be invoked as a defense for the prosecution ol these crimes. The good news for IHL continues. After the enactment of the law, Pres. Noynoy Aquino did what we thought Itaguyod ang IHL: Sibilyan Pangalagaan I