Duterte camp says ICC arrest order ‘worthless’

Government didn’t stop ICC probers from entering Philippines – Roque

MANILA, Philippines — The prospect of being ordered arrested this year by the International Criminal Court doesn’t worry former president Rodrigo Duterte, as any arrest warrant the UN-backed ICC might issue would be “worthless and useless,” his camp said yesterday.

In separate text messages to The STAR, former Duterte officials – executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, presidential spokesman Harry Roque, and chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo – said reports on an impending issuance of arrest warrants by the ICC should not be taken seriously as President Marcos himself had ruled out cooperating with the court.

But in an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday, Roque said he has credible information that the Marcos administration did not stop ICC investigators from entering the country.

He also found it disturbing that the administration has refused to put in writing its commitment not to cooperate with the ICC.

“We know when the ICC investigators came into the Philippines, which already is a violation of our sovereignty. We know that they were not prevented from investigating,” Roque told Storycon.

On Thursday, also in an interview with Storycon, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV – a staunch Duterte critic – said the ICC is expected to issue arrest warrants by midyear against Duterte and later in batches for his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte and several other individuals.

The ICC is investigating the deaths of thousands of suspected drug offenders in the conduct of the former president’s war on drugs.

Panelo said assuming that Trillanes’ pronouncements were true, such arrest orders were worthless and should be ignored considering that Marcos had already reaffirmed his predecessor’s position that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.

“The discredited renegade just wants publicity for himself. He has become totally irrelevant,” Panelo said, referring to Trillanes.

He maintained that Marcos had “emphatically declared that our government will not cooperate, in whatever form or shape, with the ICC.”

Recurring issue

Medialdea, meanwhile, said the ICC has become a “recurring” issue “every time an issue as big as the PDEA agent’s revelation would come out.” He was referring to a testimony before the Senate by a former agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency linking Marcos to illegal drugs. PDEA has already denied the allegation.

“It’s as if this administration is seeking retribution. Targeting FPRRD in this kind of scenario will not work. PBBM is facing a huge leadership problem including the alleged use of drugs,” Medialdea said, referring to the former president and to Marcos by their initials.

“His (Marcos) image might even worsen if they continue doing it this way. They must face this squarely and responsibility to recoup its image,” he said.

According to Medialdea, Duterte would feel “numb” every time he hears ICC, “Deadma nya yan. (He ignores it).”

He also said Trillanes “is just a kibitzer craving for attention. Let’s not take him seriously.”

ICC probers allowed in

In his “Storycon” interview, Roque said ICC investigators were allowed into the country by the Bureau of Immigration even without hiding their identities.

“The investigators were able to enter the Philippines and we know that the immigration (bureau) is under the executive. The investigators did not hide their identities, that’s why we have a record when they entered and left (the country),” he added.

Roque did not disclose when the ICC investigators supposedly entered the Philippines, but said it was shortly after the House of Representatives passed the resolution encouraging Marcos to cooperate with the ICC last November.

Citing information he received, Roque also said that “high-level government officials met with the investigators” during their visit.

He did not identify the officials, but said one is “the second highest government salaried classification. One notch lower than the salary grade of the President.”

The government officials who receive a salary grade one notch lower than the President are the Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker and the Chief Justice.

On reports that arrest warrants may soon be issued against the former president, Roque stressed that the matter is “not as simple as putting him in a private plane and bringing him to The Hague.”

“Legally, the court has no jurisdiction, and we will exhaust all legal remedies, including of course the fact that it is mandatory to face Philippine courts first before they can actually bring an accused to the ICC,” he added.

Roque confirmed the split in the UniTeam and that it was Marcos’ flip-flopping on the ICC issue that dealt the alliance the fatal blow. The UniTeam is the campaign tandem of the two highest officials of the land.

He noted Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla’s making a 360 degree turn in November when he said that an ICC cooperation needs further study.

“After the 360-degree turn, they refused now to reduce in writing the non-cooperation with the ICC, which has further worsened the relationship,” he added.

Roque also described Trillanes as “full of hot air” for claiming that he was serving as “facilitator” between the ICC and some witnesses. “I’m not aware of a position of a facilitator,” he added.

In contact with ICC

The former senator said he has been in touch with ICC representatives since its preliminary examination, during the conduct of the investigation, and up to the junking of Duterte’s appeal.

“The warrant will be released late second quarter, so we can say middle of the year, maybe June or July, that will actually happen. So it is a waiting game at this point,” Trillanes said.

Apart from Duterte and his daughter, among the other personalities reportedly investigated by the ICC in connection with the controversial drug war are his “tokhang” enforcer Sen. Ronald de la Rosa and former aide Sen. Bong Go.

More than 6,000 drug suspects had been killed in the previous administration’s drug war based on government data. However, human rights groups said the number of dead could be several times higher.

At a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines last month, Marcos said the Philippine government would not hand over Duterte should the ICC issue an arrest warrant against him.

“We don’t recognize the warrant, the warrant that they will send to us,” Marcos said, asserting that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines since the country’s judicial system is working.

In February, he even called the ICC investigation on Duterte’s drug war a “threat” to the country’s sovereignty.

In 2019, the Philippines officially cut ties with the international court after it launched a preliminary probe on the thousands of drug-related deaths during Duterte’s term.

Marcos had said he was not inclined to rejoin the ICC.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it’s still premature to comment on the matter.

“We’d rather not comment on that issue because these are not official information reaching the office of the chief PNP or any office of the PNP for that matter,” police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said at a press conference at Camp Crame.

She maintained the country has a working judicial system that can hear cases against police officers linked to abuses in the implementation of Duterte’s crackdown against illegal drugs. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marc Jayson Cayabyab