THE Philippine government yesterday asked the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to deny the request of Prosecutor Karim Khan to resume his office’s investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed in the anti-drugs crackdown of the Duterte administration.
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said the request was submitted through the Philippine Embassy at the Hague, Netherlands.
“In its submission to the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) of the International Criminal Court, the Philippine Government asked the PTC to deny the request of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to resume its investigation of alleged crimes against humanity committed in the territory of the Philippines in the context of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ between July 1, 2016 to March 16, 2019, including in the Davao Region between November 1, 2011 to June 30 2016,” a statement issued by Guevarra’s office said.
In its request, the government reiterated that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country and that the alleged crimes are inadmissible under Article 17 of the Rome Statute that governs the establishment of the ICC.
“The alleged murder incidents that happened during the relevant period do not constitute crimes against humanity considering that said incidents do not qualify as an attack against the civilian population,” it said.
“Furthermore, the said occurrences were not in furtherance of a state or organizational policy to commit such attack,” it added.
It also repeated that the supposed crimes that the ICC wants to investigate are “already being investigated and prosecuted” by the proper agencies and the government is neither unwilling nor unable to carry out the probe.
Guevarra said a report on the progress of the investigations was included in the submission to the ICC.
Also submitted were information showing that inquiries were also made into the drug-related killings in the Davao region, and that crimes other than murder were also investigated.
“Under the complementary principle, state-level investigative proceedings should take precedence thereby rendering the OTP’s investigation into the Philippine situation unwarranted,” it said.
Guevarra, whose office represented the country in the PTC proceedings, said they also explained to the ICC the extent of the country’s drug problem and the process of domestic investigation and prosecution of drug-related cases under the Philippines’ legal and judicial system.
Last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his administration has no intention of rejoining the ICC, from which Duterte withdrew when it started to probe the alleged extrajudicial killings related to the drug war.
Marcos has said that domestic mechanisms to address human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings are in place, thus there was no reason to rejoin the international body.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla also said there is no need for the ICC to conduct its own probe into the killings as Philippine law enforcement authorities are doing the same.
“We are currently investigating these crimes. Our judicial system is working,” he said last month, adding that unlike other countries such as Somalia, there is a rule of law in the country.
“The ICC should only enter into countries where there is no existing judicial system. They have done that in Somalia, they have done that in Sudan, in countries with no rule of law. We are not like that as we have an existing justice system,” Remulla added.
The DOJ chief said he also does not foresee the country turning into a “pariah state” just because it did not return to the ICC.
The request of the government was in response to the September 8 deadline for Manila to comment on Khan’s request to the PTC to resume its probe into the matter, which was deferred in November last year on the request of Manila.
