Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged the members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to withdraw from the organization on Sunday.
During his speech at the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Alab Tala Class of 2018, Duterte said that the member countries should also leave the European Union-sponsored treaty.
“Ang sinabi ko lang withdraw, simply because to announce to the world… and I will convince everybody now who are under the treaty sa [ICC], get out, get out… bastos ‘yan. It is not a document prepared by anybody, it is an EU [European Union]-sponsored,” Duterte said.
He added that ICC’s investigations only focus on those against countries with ‘dark-colored’ citizens.
“Itong mga ‘to nung pumunta sila Africa pinagpapatay nila ‘yung mga Arabs, lahat na… It is really an atonement for their sins, tapos ang hinahabol nila either itim, pati sa lahat ng problema nakikialam pa,” the President declared.
Duterte announced on Wednesday, March 14, that the Philippines is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), ordering it to be ‘effective immediately’.
Duterte cited that the basis for his decision is the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” of the ICC against him and his war-on-drugs campaign, adding that the attempt of the ICC to place him under the tribunal’s jurisdiction as another reason.
“I therefore declare and forthwith give notice, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, that the Philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the Rome Statute effective immediately,” the President said in a statement.
Earlier, ICC conducted a “preliminary investigation” on Duterte’s war on drugs after a complaint was filed against the Philippine president due to high number of killings recorded during the campaign.
ICC clarified that the “investigation” was simply an examination to check if there are grounds to proceed with a deeper investigation.
Duterte, however, stressed that the ICC has no power over the Philippine government.
“You cannot acquire jurisdiction over me, not in a million years,” he emphasized.
