The International Criminal Court (ICC) decision on whether to grant the Philippine appeal to discontinue its probe on President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs will not affect the country, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Friday.
“Well, they can decide in the Hague where the ICC is. But that does not affect us here. They cannot enforce anything that they want in our country because we are not members of the ICC,” Remulla said in a media briefing.
Remulla issued the statement as the ICC Appeals Chamber is expected to issue next week its decision on the government’s plea against resuming the ICC prosecutor’s investigation on the killings linked to Duterte’s drug war.
The appeals chamber said its decision on the Philippine appeal will be delivered on July 18.
But Remulla said he did not see the ICC entering the country to do whatever it wanted.
“We’re just trying to work with them in the spirit of comity. But if things happen as they do, if they will be adverse against us, so be it. But we are not members of the ICC,” the Justice secretary said.
Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal in 2019 after it began a preliminary probe into his drug war, followed by the launch of a formal inquiry later that year.
Duterte has continuously dismissed the probe.
Under the Duterte administration’s much-condemned drug war, at least 6,200 suspects were killed in police operations, based on government records. But human rights groups say the actual death toll could be from 12,000 to 30,000.
On Thursday, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra—who was Justice secretary under Duterte–said the Philippines had a “fair chance” of getting a favorable ruling.
Despite this, he said that should the country lose, the ICC may indict “certain individuals” if there is sufficient evidence.