The Philippine government has asked the International Criminal Court to overturn the January 26 Pre-Trial Chamber’s authorization to resume the probe on the abuses and deaths related to the drug war under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The five-page appeal filed on February 3 stressed that the government under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “disagrees with and rejects the pre-trial chamber’s conclusion” when it authorized the resumption of the drug war probe.
The ICC had said that the government “is not undertaking tangible, concrete steps to investigate abuses and deaths in the conduct of the drug war.”
The Marcos administration said it no longer offers any arguments to prop up its appeal, except to say that the “relief being sought is a reversal of the decision and the denial of the Office of the Prosecutor’s request to resume investigation regarding the Situation in the Republic of the Philippines.”
“The Philippine government thus hereby requests that the implementation of the PTC Decision be suspended pending final resolution of this Appeal,” it added.
The appeal was signed by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra and Assistant Solicitor Generals-Myrna Agno-Canuto, Henry Angeles, Marissa Dela Cruz-Galandines, and Hermes Ocampo.
Sought for comment, Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher Carlos Conde said he is optimistic the appeal would not change anything to stop the resumption of the drug war probe.
Conde said it seems “the government is just going through the motions of exhausting the remedies available to it.” He said it would be better if the Marcos administration would cooperate with the probe.
“Instead of undermining the ICC and its important work of accountability, the government should really just cooperate. Just because it’s no longer a state party to the Rome Statute does not mean it cannot cooperate,” Conde said.
However, he said it would take political will and moral courage on the part of the Marcos administration to cooperate with the ICC.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday welcomed the visit to the Philippines of a team of international experts on the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Deaths upon invitation from the government.
The team comprises Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or, arbitrary executions, who is visiting as an expert in forensic pathology; Dr. Stephen Cordner, Foundation Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University; and lawyer Kingsley Abbott, Director of Global Accountability and International Justice at the International Commission of Jurists.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier announced that he personally invited Tidball-Binz in November 2022, not to probe the past administration’s bloody drug war but to upgrade the government’s forensics program and boost the knowledge of local forensic pathologists.
“The Commission equally sees the crucial importance of forensic pathology in resolving unlawful deaths toward truth-seeking, accountability, and justice,” the CHR statement said.
“We equally recognize the urgent value of having forensic pathologists in all regions to aid in law enforcement and provide their expertise to determine results and help enable the resolution of unjust executions.”
“Thus, we are hopeful that the visit will enable concrete enactment of measures that will ensure the swift training of doctors in forensic pathology and greater investment in this field,” it added.
Earlier, Department of Justice spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano said the ICC should give the Philippines more time to investigate the abuses and deaths associated with the drug crackdown of the previous administration.
“Give us some time to pursue a genuine investigation on the drug war. Secretary Remulla is not abandoning the investigation here. He is confident we wiĺl be able to secure conviction in these frug war cases,” Clavano said.
He assured the public the department will fully prosecute everyone involved in the drug war abuses.
Clavano said the DOJ probe on the drug war-related deaths is ongoing and Remulla has committed to pursuing each case. He said there are 290 cases under different stages of investigation, prosecution and in court.
Remulla has insisted that the Philippines has a functioning justice system and said the decision of the ICC to resume its “drug war” probe is an “irritant.”
The DOJ chief also vowed to prevent ICC investigators from entering or imposing upon the country, saying the Philippines is a sovereign country.
In granting the request of Prosecutor Karim Khan to resume the probe into the Philippines’ war on drugs, the ICC said the information and materials submitted by the Philippine government “do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the Tribunal’s investigation.”
However, Clavano said then the ICC should also understand that investigation “cannot be done overnight” and that “all we need is sometime” to finish the probe.
He echoed Remulla’s earlier statement that the government is doing what it can to improve the system despite several limitations in the drug war probe.
Duterte withdrew the country from the ICC in 2019 after Khan’s predecessor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary probe into his drug crackdown.
But while the Philippines has pulled out of the ICC, the latter still retain jurisdiction over crimes committed while the country was a state party as provided under the Rome Statute that created the ICC.
