Palace: OSG doing its job to represent government before SC

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December 4, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  The Office of the Solicitor General’s actions should be based on its duty, not on personal interests, Malacañang said yesterday, as it defended the move of the OSG to re-enter its appearance in petitions filed by former president Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Ronald dela Rosa before the Supreme Court.

The OSG has filed a manifestation before the SC to re-enter its appearance in the petitions challenging Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague last March over alleged crimes against humanity.

It reversed the move of former solicitor general Menardo Guevarra, who recused from the petitions, arguing that the Philippines had withdrawn from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC in 2011.

Guevarra resigned last May and was replaced by University of the Philippines College of Law dean Darlene Berberabe.

“The OSG should act according to the law and its mandate without protecting the interest of the few,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a text message yesterday.

“The Palace cannot answer for the personal action and view of former (solicitor general) Meynard Guevarra. For now, the OSG is just performing its mandate and is correcting what should be in line with the law,” she added.

Castro was asked to react to the statement of Dela Rosa’s lawyer Israelito Torreon, who is opposed to the OSG’s move to re-enter its appearance.

Berberabe has justified the OSG’s manifestation, saying the decision to enter anew its appearance in this case is based on an “appreciation of the totality of the facts” and an “understanding of the law as it should apply to those facts.”