By ARIES C. RUFO
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

The Philippine government is facing an uphill battle in pushing Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s candidacy in the International Court of Justice.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has launched a high-profile campaign to boost Santiago’s chances in the 15-person body, directing the different embassies to lobby for support in their host countries.

The campaign has taken Santiago before the United Nations, delivering an address before the UN General Assembly in November last year during the International Law Commission Week in New York. Her participation in the ILC Week, based on a news release from the Senate, was intended "to introduce her to the international law community and highlight her intellectual capacity and grasp of international law issues."

But two things may make it difficult for her to land the job. First, some countries are moving to oppose her. Second, domestically, some quarters in the legal community have raised concerns because she has not qualified for the highest court in the country.

The ICJ website says that prospective "judges must ... possess the qualifications required in their respective countries’ appointment to the highest judicial offices, or a jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law."

While Santiago is a recognized authority on international law and is listed in the UN’s roster of highly qualified experts on the subject matter (year 2000), the Supreme Court gave her zero votes in 2006 when she sought to be the first female chief justice.

The Judicial and Bar Council, which screens nominees to the judiciary, gave Santiago only one vote and the Supreme Court, which holds an informal vote to indicate its sense of the nominees, didn’t give her a single vote.

Santiago went ballistic then and described the SC members as "idiots."

Gaffes and countries

Political observers say Santiago is also handicapped by her recent gaffes in the Senate which could further hurt her chances.

Santiago offended Chinese sensibilities last year when she said that China "invented corruption" during a public hearing in the Senate on the $329 million broadband project with China’s ZTE Corp. She has apologized for her remark.

Last month, she deferred her sponsorship speech for Senate ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) as she recommended to the DFA to renegotiate it. She recommended a conditional concurrence in the ratification of the Jpepa reportedly to protect private ownership of land and some policies in the Labor Code.

Our sources say these two incidents might work against her, not only on the international level, but right inside the ICJ. The two other seats for Asia are currently occupied by Shi Jiuyong from China and Hisashi Owada from Japan.

We gathered that India and Jordan, which is seeking to retain its ICJ post, are the Philippines’ strongest rivals. The Philippines is making the ICJ bid for the first time in 40 years. The last Filipino to be a member of the Court was Chief Justice Cesar Bengzon, who served from 1967 to 1976.

In an interview shortly after President Arroyo announced that the government would bid for the ICJ seat, Santiago acknowledged that "it will be extremely difficult" for her to bag the seat because "I will be representing not myself but a developing country."

She added: "Generally, in this international voting, it is the candidates of developed countries who are certain of victory. A candidate of a developing country must work twice as hard because the decision is not made on the individual merits and qualifications but on the diplomatic clout of the country concerned."

No Supreme Court endorsement

For her ICJ bid, Santiago was formally nominated by a national group formed for the campaign composed of SC justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, retired Associated Justice Florentino Feliciano, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines Jose Vicente Salazar and University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law dean Alfredo Benipayo.

Based on her blog, Santiago’s nomination is also endorsed by Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the IBP, the Philippine Bar Association, the Philippine Women’s Judges Association, the Philippine Association of Law Schools and Philippine Association of Law Professors.

But Santiago failed to get the support of the group that matters most, the SC, which although not a requirement in her campaign, would have bolstered her case before other countries, observers say.

We learned that Puno’s endorsement was a personal one, not representing the Supreme Court.

Courting votes

Also known as the World Court, the Netherland-based ICJ is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It rules on legal disputes between states and provides legal advisory opinions on legal questions from UN organs and international agencies.

Membership in the ICJ is based on regional distribution with Western Europe and other States with five seats, Africa 3, Asia 3, Latin America and Caribbean and Eastern Europe 2.

Of three seats for Asia, one will be up for grab when Jordan’s term ends in Feb. 2009. It is this vacancy the government hopes Santiago would fill up. The outgoing judge from Jordan is Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, who is also the ICJ vice-president.

We contacted Santiago’s office on the status of her ICJ campaign but we were referred to the DFA. Santiago’s deputy chief of staff, Fatima Panontongan, said Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has issued a directive that all information on the campaign should be centralized to the DFA. DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal said he will get back to us for updates but he has yet to return call as of this writing.

As early as last year, the embassy in the Hague, Netherlands, has been engaging in a spirited campaign, with Ambassador Romeo Arguelles making personal visits to the different Dutch offices and legal institutions.

And only a month after the government announced her nomination to ICJ, the Philippines secured Vietnam’s vote. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Vietnam has pledged to support Santiago’s campaign in exchange for the Philippines supporting Vietnam’s bid in the Security Council.

This year, Santiago has been going around the international circuit to court votes although her office refused to divulge the places she had been to for confidential reasons. In another interview, she said will be out of the country for most of the year to concentrate on her campaign.

Foreign relations committee chair

Santiago has an ace up her sleeve, though. As chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, foreign representatives lobby for the approval of treaties, conventions, and agreements with her.

Senate records show there are 22 such treaties and agreements being reviewed by Santiago’s committee

These include the Mutual Legal Treaties with Spain, Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Status of Visiting Forces Agreement with Australia and Double Taxation Treaties with the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and New Zealand.

Still, her bid remains a tall order. She needs an absolute majority votes from the UN General Assembly and the Security Council which will vote separately, before winning the seat.