FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte has shrugged off the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to proceed with the preliminary investigation on the war on drugs campaign.
"Former President Duterte reiterates his position that he would never allow foreigners to sit in judgment of him as long as Philippine courts are willing and able to do so," former spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement forwarded to the media Friday afternoon, January 27.
The official said that the former President is ready to submit "to the prosecution and judgment of any local court" and is "ready to face any of his accusers."
"But the former chief executive would never subject himself under the legal jurisdiction of any foreign body because it is an insult to the competence and impartiality of our functioning criminal justice system," Roque said.
The former spokesperson said Duterte had repeatedly urged the alleged victims of the illegal drug crackdown under the latter's administration to file a case before Philippine courts.
Roque said the resumption of the probe is a waste of time and resources.
He added the ICC should instead focus on the war and crimes against humanity that are actually happening in places like Ukraine and some African countries.
The former spokesperson said the Duterte administration was able to investigate, prosecute and convict several police officers involved in extralegal killings of drug suspects.
Reopening of probe
ICC judges on January 26 cleared the way for the court's prosecution office to resume its investigation into the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines.
Prosecutor Karim Khan asked judges for permission last year to reactivate his inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019, which were linked to the deadly crackdown.
The investigation was suspended in late 2021 after the Philippines said it already was examining the crimes and argued that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn't have jurisdiction.
Khan argued last year that he should be allowed to reopen the ICC investigation, saying Manila's request for the case to be deferred to authorities there “is not warranted.”
A panel of judges agreed in their ruling on Thursday, after examining information from the Philippine government and Khan, and weighing comments from victims.
“The various domestic initiatives and proceedings, assessed collectively, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the court’s investigation," the judges said.
This came despite the earlier request of the Philippine government not to continue with the probe, noting that national authorities were investigating or had already investigated the cases, and that the ICC has no jurisdiction over it since the Duterte administration has already withdrawn membership in the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
All legal remedies vc ICC
The Philippine government will exhaust all legal remedies against the resumption of investigation of the ICC into the drug war under Duterte, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said on Friday, January 27, 2023.
Guevarra said they are looking into bringing up the matter to the ICC appeals chamber, which has the authority to either reverse and amend the decision of a trial chamber.
“While we have not received an official copy of this resolution, it is our intention to exhaust our legal remedies, more particularly elevating the matter to the ICC appeals chamber,” Guevarra said.
“We wish to emphasize that our own domestic investigative and judicial processes should take precedence and we can show that despite structural and resource limitations in our legal system, it is still a well-functioning system that yields positive results in its own time,” he added.
Guevarra earlier said the ICC has jurisdiction over certain crimes only, such as genocide, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity and war crime.
On June 14, 2021, then outgoing ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked ICC judges for an approval for the conduct of an official investigation into the alleged crime against humanity of murder in the country covering the period of November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.
The former administration said the move to probe the drug war was politically motivated.
From July 2016 to May 31, a total of 6,252 individuals were killed in the drug war. RGL with AP, SunStar Philippines