THE PHILIPPINES has no plan to rejoin the International Criminal Court, President Bongbong Marcos said, with the tribunal's prosecutor seeking to resume a probe into the ex-president's deadly drug war.
Rodrigo Duterte, who left office on June 30, pulled the Philippines out
of the ICC in 2019 after it launched a preliminary probe into his drugs crackdown,
which killed many thousands of people.
ICC judges authorised a full investigation into the anti-narcotics
campaign last September, saying it resembled an illegitimate and systematic
attack on civilians. It suspended the probe two months later, after Manila said
it was looking into the alleged crimes itself.
But ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in June that the request by Manila to
defer the probe was unjustified and that it should restart "as quickly as
possible".
Marcos, who backed Duterte's drug war, has previously indicated he would
not cooperate with the ICC. "The Philippines has no intention of rejoining
the ICC," he told reporters.
Marcos was elected president by a landslide in May with the help of an
alliance with Duterte's daughter, Sara, who won the vice presidential race.
During his presidency, Duterte refused to cooperate with the court,
claiming it had no jurisdiction -- an assertion rejected by the Philippine
Supreme Court. Under pressure from the UN Human Rights Council and the ICC, the
government has examined several hundred cases of drug operations that led to
deaths.
Charges have been filed in a handful of cases. Only three policemen have
been convicted for slaying a drug suspect. The ICC has invited the Philippines
"to offer observations" on Khan's request to resume the probe, the
presidential communications office said.
Manila has until September 8 to respond.
Marcos said Monday that a recent meeting with his legal team, which
includes Duterte's former spokesman Harry Roque, was to discuss whether the
administration would respond. "What we're saying is we have investigation
here and it's ongoing, so why do we have to have that?" Marcos said. "It's
also possible that we will not bother (to respond) at all because we are not
under them."
Even if the ICC gathers enough evidence to bring a case against Duterte,
its rules prevent him from being tried in absentia. (AFP)
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