MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration will sit down with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and discuss “certain areas” of cooperation in the latter’s investigation on thousands of killings in the crackdown on illegal drugs under Rodrigo Duterte.
This was according to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who revealed in an interview with Reuters that the discussions would be held soon “in a very well-defined manner, in the spirit of comity.”
“Some people are trying to bridge the divide to bring us together, so we can sit at one table,” Remulla was quoted as saying in the report.
“There are certain areas we can cooperate,” he said, stressing that “lines have to be drawn properly.”
Remulla said cooperation with an international tribunal is permissible under the law, noting that ICC representatives “have been going in and out of the country without us raising anything.”
“I know that, as anecdotally from people I know from the human rights community, they’ve been in contact here,” he added.
Remulla said that while the Philippines rejoining the ICC is “another question,” the Marcos administration is “starting to explore the limits of non-membership to the ICC and the extent of crimes committed prior to the withdrawal.”
He made it clear the country is open to limited cooperation with the court.
While the Philippines has its own probe on the drug war killings, the justice chief said ICC’s work could help advance the country’s investigations.
“We have to admit the shortcomings that are there. We always want to do justice for everyone,” Remulla said.
The Philippines in 2019, under then president Rodrigo Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute which created the ICC after the tribunal began a probe on his administration’s drug war.
The Marcos administration had been initially firm on its stance that it had no legal duty to comply with any obligations or support proceedings by the ICC, citing the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
Marcos was even quoted as saying that the ICC was a threat to the country’s sovereignty and that the government would not help in any of its investigations.
“The Philippine government will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts,” he added.
In August last year, Remulla said the government would not stop the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from serving arrest warrants that may be issued by the ICC against Duterte and other former officials linked to the drug war killings. In November, Duterte, at a congressional hearing, even taunted the ICC to “hurry up” on its probe.
No infringement on Philippines sovereignty’
Reacting to the development, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said there was no infringement on the country’s sovereignty in the move of the Department of Justice to cooperate with the ICC.
Pimentel said it is in fact the obligation of the Philippine government to cooperate with the ICC even if the country had already pulled out of the Rome Statute during the Duterte administration.
“No infringement on sovereignty because decision to cooperate or not is actually an exercise and manifestation of our sovereignty,” Pimentel told The STAR.
“Besides, if the subject matter of the ICC inquiry is about incidents which happened during the time period when the Philippines was a member of the ICC, then we are obligated to cooperate because that was what we promised when we acceded to the treaty,” he said.
Pimentel welcomed the DOJ move, saying it was a demonstration of respect for the country’s treaty obligations.
“We have to show the world that the Philippines is a trustworthy and reliable treaty partner,” the Senate minority leader said.
Pimentel said there was no need to invite the DOJ and ask it about the softening of its stance on an ICC probe, when the Senate resumes its drug war investigation.
“No need. ICC is more on extrajudicial killings (EJK). Drug war may have resulted in many EJKs, but drug war is not EJK,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel led the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation on Duterte’s drug war. During one of its hearings, Duterte admitted to having a death squad and voiced his readiness to take “full legal and moral responsibility” for the deaths of defenseless suspects during his supposed crackdown on illegal drugs. - Marc Jayson Cayabyab