MANILA, Philippines — Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has been elected to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the senator herself confirmed on Tuesday.

Santiago said she won a seat in the ICC but could only leave her seat in the Senate once she would be called by the ICC to report to her new work.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, through spokesman Raul Hernandez, also relayed the good news.

The senator will be one of the six judges, who will assume office in March 2012. But Santiago said it might take a year before she assumes the post.

Santiago said on radio that she would be the first Filipino to sit there.

Her staff member, Tom Tolibas, said the senator got 79 votes in the first round of the ICC election, which automatically got her elected to the ICC.

Aside from Santiago, the committee on international criminal court posted on Twitter that Anthony Carmona of Trinidad and Tobago was elected to the ICC.

In the radio interview, Santiago joked that she probably won a seat in the ICC because her enemies campaigned for her so that they could get rid of her. Tina Santos, Philippine Daily Inquirer