Katrina Domingo, reporting for ABS-CBN News;

The International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld its jurisdiction over the crimes against humanity case filed against former President Rodrigo Duterte after the tribunal’s Appeals Chamber on Wednesday junked petitions to halt proceedings against the Philippines’ 16th president.

In its April 22 decision, the Appeals Chamber ruled that while the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in March 2019, preliminary examinations on the situation in the Philippines started in February 2018, a year before the Duterte administration sent a formal notice to pull back from the treaty governing the ICC.

A majority of the Appeals Chamber rejected all four grounds raised by the defense where it argued that the Pre-Trial Chamber had committed errors in law in ruling that the ICC has jurisdiction over the Duterte case.

Having rejected the appeal, it said the related request for Duterte’s immediate release is moot.

This is big… as in big that the Duterte camp needs to shift their strategy, since the court (ICC) has effectively removed the final major legal obstacle preventing the case from moving toward a full trial and the case has a high probability of going to a full trial.