Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday raised doubts that International Criminal Courts (ICC) investigators have entered the country, saying that so far, there were no indications they have arrived in Manila.
Remulla said the ICC probers have the duty to inform the government about their presence in the Philippines.
“It is their responsibility and duty to make contact with the DOJ (Department of Justice) in accordance of the principles of international law,” he stressed.
“They have not made contact with the DOJ,” Remulla asserted.
The Secretary made the statement following reports that ICC investigators have entered the country to look into the alleged abuses committed by law enforcers notably the so-called extra- judicial killings amid the illegal drugs war of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Erstwhile presidential spokesman Harry Roque, citing information from a colleague, claimed in his social media posts that the ICC has already sent investigators to the Philippines.
“One of my former associate-foreigners who are members of the ICC have been to the Philippines. So, I have confirmation that these foreigners have been conducting investigations in the country which is in violation of our Constitution because we are no longer members of the ICC,” Roque said.
Remulla stressed however, that if the ICC believed it has a case, charges should be filed in the Philippines “because we are a country with a judicial system.”
On July 18, 2023, the ICC’s Appeals Chamber denied the Philippines’ appeal against the investigation of the so-called crimes against humanity.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) which filed the appeal had pointed out that the Philippines had already withdrawn as a state party of the Rome Statute that created the ICC.
The OSG pointed out that the withdrawal took effect on March 19, 2022 before the ICC prosecutor ordered an investigation on the drugs war.
Meanwhile, the Philippines is considering resuming its membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC), nearly five years after it withdrew over objections to a bid by the court to investigate the bloody anti-drugs campaign, the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
“There is also a question, should we return under the fold of the ICC, so that’s again under study. So we’ll just keep looking at it and see what our options are,” the President told reporters.
The Philippines withdrew from the international tribunal in 2019 after then President Rodrigo Duterte questioned its authority to investigate the campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people were reportedly killed.
Marcos said questions over jurisdiction and sovereignty were still “problems” to be resolved by the Philippine government.
“Now if we can solve these problems, then that would be something else, but those questions are fundamental,” Marcos said.
The ICC this year rejected a Philippine appeal to stop investigating Duterte’s drug war. Marcos said in March he would cut off contact with the court after the decision.
In July, appeals judges at the ICC cleared the way for an investigation into the killings, a ruling that families of victims and right groups hailed as another step towards justice.
While Philippine officials still insist the international tribunal has no jurisdiction over it, some lawmakers have urged the government to rethink its position.
The House of Representatives has initiated hearings urging the government to cooperate with the ICC prosecutor in the probe, after opposition lawmakers cited Duterte’s admission in a television program that he used intelligence funds to finance extra-judicial killings when he was still a mayor of Davao City in Mindanao.
The move did not sit well with Vice-President Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter, who said on Thursday that allowing the ICC probe is “patently unconstitutional.”
Roque has said even if the Philippines returns to the ICC, the drug war cannot be investigated since “temporal jurisdiction was lost in 2019”.
It “doesn’t matter to (the) Dutertes. Jurisdiction will be prospective,” Roque said in a text message.
A political science professor at the University of the Philippines, Jean Encinas-Franco, said Marcos’ comments indicate he was “veering away” from the previous government’s policies.
“It will be seen by a lot of people as breaking away from their alliance,” Franco said.