But maintains govt not cooperating with inquiry
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday said the government will not block or intervene if former President Rodrigo Duterte submits himself to the ongoing investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his administration’s violent drug war but maintained that the Philippines will not cooperate in the probe.
“We will not cooperate with the ICC. That is the position of this government,” the President said in a chance interview in Tagaytay City, noting the Philippines’ withdrawal as a member of the ICC in 2019.
During the hearing of the quad committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Duterte said he was ready to face the ICC and challenged it to conduct an immediate investigation on his war on drugs.
He also said he was willing to fly to The Hague in Netherlands if someone would pay for his trip.
Reacting to his predecessor’s statement before the quad committee, Marcos said: “If iyun ang gugustuhin ni PRRD (Duterte) ay hindi naman kami haharang doon sa mga ICC. Hindi lang kami tutulong. Ngunit kung pumapayag siya na makipag-usap siya o magpa-imbestiga siya sa ICC ay nasa kanya iyun. Wala na kaming desisyon doon [If that’s the wish of PRRD, we will not block or stop the ICC. But we will still not cooperate. If he [Duterte] agrees to talk or to be investigated by the ICC, that is up to him. We have no say on that).”
The ICC is investigating Duterte and other key officials of his administration for alleged crimes against humanity for the deaths of thousands of drug suspects, including innocent bystanders and children, in the implementation of his campaign against illegal drugs.
Duterte told lawmakers during the Wednesday hearing that has has “nothing to hide. What I did, I did it for my country and for the young people. No excuses. No apologies. If I go to hell, so be it.”
He also said: “I am already old. I might die soon. You might miss the pleasure of seeing me standing before the court hearing the judgment whatever it is.”
He again assumed full responsibility for the shortcomings of his drug campaign, the same statement he made during the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon sub-committee last October 28, and said cops should not be held liable for the killings.
Marcos said that while his government will not cooperate with the ICC probe, it will be a different scenario when the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) gets involved since the Philippines is obliged to cooperate with the Interpol.
“We have obligations to Interpol and we have to live up to those obligations,” Marcos said.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday said that should the ICC go to the Interpol and the Interpol in turn issues a red notice and arrest warrant against Duterte, the country is obliged to cooperate with it.
BEING ASSESSED
Marcos said the government is monitoring developments in the investigations being conducted by the Senate and the House because responsibility for the extrajudicial killings had not been established.
He said the testimony of Duterte before the senators and the congressmen are also being assessed to see their legal consequences.
He added the Department of Justice and the PNP have also been conducting investigations on the deaths related to the drug war.
“That is the DOJ’s responsibility to continue to examine all bits of comments, of statements, of testimony, and eventually of evidence, to see that is a, that it justifies a case to be filed,” Marcos said.
“And we had the mothers of some of the victims that were there, and up to now, they have not seen the justice for the murders of their children,” he also said.
Under Duterte, police said they killed 6,200 suspected dealers who had resisted arrest during their anti-drug operations.
But human rights groups believe the real toll to be far greater, with thousands more users and peddlers gunned down in mysterious circumstances by unknown assailants.
Authorities at the time said those were vigilante killings and drugs gangs eliminating rivals. Rights groups and some victims accuse police of systematic cover-ups and executions, which they deny.
Marcos, meanwhile, said the government’s decision not to cooperate with the ICC stands even if it is obligated to cooperate with Interpol.
PNP DATA
The PNP yesterday said the number of policemen affected by the Duterte’s war on drugs which it released last Sunday is supported by data.
PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil has said that 312 policemen died in the line of duty during the previous administrations war on drugs, 974 others were injured, 214 are facing criminal charges, 195 have been dismissed and 398 others are still facing dismissal proceedings.
Duterte told lawmakers he was unaware of the numbers mentioned by Marbil, but nonetheless announced he would raise P1 million to help the policemen.
“It’s the right of the former president to make such statement but records will not lie. More than 1,000 policemen were affected by the campaign against illegal drugs (during the previous administration),” PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said.
Fajardo said Marbil’s disclosure over the weekend was based on records from the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, specifically the slain and injured policemen.
“As to those who faced charges, the data was provided by the DIDM (Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management),” she said.
“These numbers are no joke…The remarks of our chief PNP are not empty words, these are backed by solid data,” she stressed.
On Duterte’s offer to raise P1 million for the affected policemen, Fajardo said: “We would like to extend our appreciation to the former President for (offering) to give P1 million.”
“This is a welcome development,” she also said even as she noted that the PNP has already entered into a memorandum of understanding with a financial institution to provide legal assistance to all policemen facing work-related charges.
QUAD COMM
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, overall chair of the House quad committee, said that while the former president can decline, the joint panel will invite Duterte again in its next hearing.
“We will still invite the former president because he is included in the discussion. As long as the topic involves EJKs (extrajudicial killings) and drugs because he is part of the list of our invited resource persons,” he told reporters. “If the (former) president wants to join us and attend, then that is very okay, but if he opts to skip the probe, we will respect his decision.”
Barbers said the joint panel will have to evaluate Duterte’s testimonies on Wednesday although he believes that his decision to take “full, legal and moral” responsibility for the drug war can be considered an “extrajudicial confession of guilt.”
Duterte, himself, has ad mitted to the joint committee that taking legal and moral responsibility for the drug war could be construed as an extrajudicial confession of guilt.
“In the sense yes, I can’t do anything about it anymore,” he said. “Yes, because I ordered the campaign against illegal drugs. At kung anong ginawa nila, whether illegal or not, ako nag-utos (And whatever they did, whether illegal or not, I ordered it). In that sense, I take that responsibility for their actions.”
Duterte, however, refused to make such admission on writing, saying the joint panel is not a trial court and that it can easily refer to the hearing’s transcript.
Duterte also said that he cannot be made legally responsible for the deaths of some drug personalities like Albuera town mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. because “guilt is personal (under the law).” – With Reuters, Victor Reyes and Wendell Vigilia
