THE Marcos government will not hand over former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should it issue an arrest order in relation to its ongoing probe into the alleged human rights abuses linked to the bloody campaign against illegal drugs of the former administration.
“That’s a no,” President Marcos Jr. replied when members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) asked him if Duterte would be turned over to the ICC.
The President was the guest speaker during FOCAP’s 50th anniversary celebration that was held at the Manila Hotel.
“We (will not) recognize the warrant, the warrant that they will send to us,” he stressed, as he reiterated that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.
The ICC is investigating Philippine officials led by Duterte in connection with the deaths of thousands of alleged victims of his administration’s violent drug campaign. Former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa is also an accused in the case.
Marcos insisted that the Philippines is no longer under the jurisdiction of the ICC since its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, which created the international court, on March 2018. The withdrawal took effect on March 2019.
Likewise, the President reiterated the country has a working judicial system and a functioning police force that can look into the human rights allegations.
He also pointed out that the the issues raised against the Duterte administration is not a war crime.
“We are well within the rules. It is the rule of the ICC that they (can) come in when there is no judiciary, they (can) come in when there is no police force. We have a judiciary. The former Chief Justice is sitting right here, he will explain to you how healthy and robust and how active the judiciary is. The police force, I think, is the same thing. So (those are) the reason(s). We are well within international law when we take the position of not recognizing the jurisdiction of ICC in the Philippines,” he added.
