Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that President Rodrigo Duterte will not face the International Criminal Court or ICC amid its probe on the alleged war on drugs.
“Wala pong reaksyon si Presidente kasi mula’t mula pa, sinabi na niya na mamamatay muna siya bago siya haharap sa dayuhan na huwes,” Roque said in virtual briefing.
“Kung may isasampang kaso, gumagana po ang hukuman sa Pilipinas kaya walang hurisdiksyon ang ICC,” he added.
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Roque highlighted the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute and therefore will have no basis to force the country to cooperate with ICC.
“Kung ‘di na tayo miyembro at di na tayo required mag-cooperate, paano sila kukuha ng ebidensiya, Matutulog lang po ang kaso,” he added.
The ICC said that its Pre-Trial Chamber 1 has granted former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request to probe crimes “allegedly committed on the territory of the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign.”
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The court said that the case met a “specific legal element of crime against humanity of murder” during Duterte’s war on drugs in the period from July 1, 2016—the day after President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office as chief executive—until March 16, 2019, the day before the Philippines formally exited the Rome Statute.
It will also look into the so-called Davao Death Squad killings between November 2011 to June 2016.
“The Chamber emphasized that, based on the facts as they emerge at the present stage and subject to proper investigation and further analysis, the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign cannot be seen as a legitimate law enforcement operation, and the killings neither as legitimate nor as mere excesses in an otherwise legitimate operation. Rather, the available material indicates, to the required standard, that a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population took place pursuant to or in furtherance of a State policy, within the meaning of Article 7(1) and (2)(a) of the Statute,” it added. (TDT)
