Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla clarified on Wednesday that while the Philippines has no commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of former President Duterte’s war on drugs, the country has a separate commitment to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
“We’re not members of the ICC, definitely, that’s clear. However, Interpol is a different commitment. We no longer have a commitment to the ICC but Interpol, we have a commitment,” he said.
He added that Interpol’s commitment is far-reaching in consideration of “more than 10 million Filipinos going around the world right now who might need Interpol’s help.”
Remulla made this statement following Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s remark on whether they are challenging the policy set by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the ICC.
It is clear that the Philippines is not a member of the ICC, so the country has no responsibility to respond to their investigation, according to him.
However, he noted that he still needs to study what the government can do when the ICC issues an arrest warrant.
Remulla explained that only local law enforcement agencies have the authority to serve an arrest warrant, and that the country has a national central bureau, hence “Interpol functions through a local police unit”.
If there will be a request from ICC to Interpol and the latter requests their cooperation, it will be a different matter, he added.
Apart from dela Rosa, other individuals tagged as suspects by the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor include former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Romeo Caramat Jr., former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, and former PNP Intelligence Officer Eleazar Mata.
