Treaty Commitment Preferences: The Case of the Philippines on the Proposed ASEAN Extradition

Abstract

Treaty commitment preferences of each State vary from one another. Wagner (2003), Lupu (2014), Simmons (2002) and Parillo (2009) recommended the general treaty commitment preferences in the European context, notably the form of government, incumbent administration’s priority plans, capacity to comply and foreseen benefits. Thus, this study was conducted to validate the applicability of the suggested preferences in the Philippine context through the lens of the proposed Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Extradition Treaty. Interview with the prominent negotiators of extradition law and ASEAN instruments were conducted in order to validate the preferences and/or identify other relevant preferences that may be deemed applicable for the Philippines. The results of the study presented that, unlike the theoretical propositions, the form of government and incumbent administration’s priority plans are not considered as treaty commitment preferences of the country. On the other hand, the capacity to comply, foreseen benefits, challenges, status/situation of transnational crimes in the region, as well as the legal framework of the Contracting Parties, are proven to be the significant preferences in the Philippine context. The above implies that the abovementioned preferences may serve as the foundation of the possible general framework of the Philippines’ treaty commitment preferences on various treaties and international agreements in different areas of cooperation. This, in turn, may likewise serve as the basis of negotiators when drafting and negotiating international agreements.