There is no change in the policy on non-cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, but possibly dealing with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is another matter.
Bersamin made the statement in response to Justice Secretary Boying Remulla’s remarks suggesting a “softer stance” and the possibility of exploring areas of cooperation with the ICC.
“We have withdrawn from the ICC, membership from the ICC and that withdrawal is now already in effect,” said Bersamin during a Malacanang briefing. The country withdrew from the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2019.
On the other hand, the Palace official said the situation would be different if the ICC routed its requests through the Interpol.
“We have been very clear in our statements regarding this. If the ICC makes a move, and routes the move through Interpol, and Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest or delivery of custody of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond favorably or positively to the Interpol request, kasi nagbe-benefit din tayo sa Interpol in other cases,” said Bersamin.
He said as a member of Interpol, the Philippines has an obligation to comply with its procedures.
“Hindi naman puwede sabihin na ICC ang nag-request sa inyo to come to us, hindi na namin kayo papansinin. Kung tayo ang magre-request sa Interpol hindi na rin tayo papansinin niyan because that is comity ang tawag doon. Comity – pakikipag-kaibigan, makikipag-mabuting – you know what that’s means,” he said.
“It can’t be that if the ICC requests something from us, we’ll ignore it. If we were the ones making a request to Interpol, they would ignore us, because that’s called comity. Comity – friendship, camaraderie – you know what that means,” he said.
“Interpol should always be respected because Interpol is also doing us a service in other areas, similar to this. So, that’s the meaning of comity,” Bersamin added.
The ICC is investigating former President Rodrigo Duterte for alleged crimes against humanity related to his administration’s anti-drug campaign, which resulted in thousands of deaths.
