see - MIRIAM: PH MAY CANCEL PASSPORTS UNDER TREATY LAW | Miriam Defensor Santiago | News
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Under the 2005 United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the 1980 Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties, the Philippines is obliged to cancel the passport of senators and representatives charged with plunder by the NBI before the Ombudsman.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that there is a conflict between, on the one hand, a treaty to which the Philippines is a party; and on the other hand, a Philippine law. The conflict is resolved by the Philippine Constitution, which provides that the Philippines adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land. This is because the phrase “part of the law of the land” means that a treaty to which the Philippines is a party should be applied as if it were a law passed by Congress.
As provided by the UNCAC, Art. 30, para. 3, party-states are obliged to maximize the effectiveness of law enforcement measures relating to corruption. The UNCAC preamble – considered to be an aid in the interpretation of the substantive provisions of the treaty – is premised on the need to stop corruption, particularly cases “that involve vast quantities of assets, which may constitute a substantial proportion of the resources of States, and that threaten the political stability and sustainable development of those States. The plunder cases undergoing preliminary investigation involve vast quantities of assets, including P10 billion.
In the interest of national security, the state is not immobilized by its own domestic law to allow persons in interest to morph into fugitives from justice before taking what could be a futile action. By analogy, in international law, the early cancellation of a passport by government, is an act of preemptive self-defense. You don’t wait for a shot to be fired before you press the trigger.
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