MANILA (UPDATED) — The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations investigating the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte cited Special Envoy on Transnational Crime Markus Lacanilao in contempt for allegedly lying to the panel.

The motion came from Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa who did not believe Lacanilao’s statement that he did not know Duterte was not brought to a competent court on the day of his arrest.

“Nandoon ka the whole time. Galing sa tube hanggang doon sa Villamor, nandoon ka. Di mo pa rin alam na di siya dinala sa judicial authority,” Dela Rosa told Lacanilao.

(You were there the whole time. From the tube until Villamor Air Base, you were there. You didn't know he wa snot brought before a judicial authority)

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“Yes, Mr. Senator,” Lacanilao answered.  

“‘Di mo alam (You did not know). So you’re lying,” Dela Rosa remarked.

“There is motion to cite you in contempt. I have to affirm there being no contrary motion,” Sen. Imee Marcos, committee chair and sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said.

Under Article 59 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, "a person arrested shall be brought promptly before the competent judicial authority in the custodial State."

The Philippines withdrew its ratification of that treaty and left the ICC in 2019.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla tried to request that the committee reconsider its contempt order. 

“Ang prosecutor is competent judicial authority that’s why it is very foreign to Ambassador Lacanilao. Di naman po madaling malaman yan until ho pinaliwanag yan ni Justice [Adolfo] Azcuna sa’tin,” Remulla argued. 

(A prosecutor is a competent judicial authority that’s why it is very foreign to Ambassador Lacanilao.  It would not be easy for us to know that until Justice Azcuna explained it)

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The senators did not grant Remulla’s request.

The Senate President however is required to sign the order before it becomes executory.

Lacanilao was later freed from Senate custody after Senate President Francis Escudero refused to sign the order issued by Senator Marcos.

"I am extremely disappointed by the decision of the Senate President, Chiz Escudero, not to sign the contempt order issued by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations against Ambassador Markus V. Lacanilao. As a result of the inexplicable decision of the Senate President, Ambassador Lacanilao is free to walk, hours after he blatantly lied, under oath, over and over again to the Committee. The lies were so clear that I fail to comprehend why the Senate President, who is a lawyer, fails to see them,” Marcos said in a statement.

Marcos reminded Escudero of the importance of the the Senate's contempt power.

"I am sure that I do not need to remind the Senate President that the contempt power of the Senate is premised on the institution’s very own self-preservation. How can the Senate ensure it survival and effectiveness if people can lie under oath before the institution without any consequence? This decision by the Senate President is an insult to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and an affront to the integrity of the institution he leads,” Marcos said.

Duterte was arrested on March 11 and brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, the Netherlands.