The Marcos administration expressed its full support for the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) plan to reopen cold cases related to the previous leadership’s supposedly brutal implementation of its war on drugs.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Tuesday affirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring justice and upholding the rule of law.
“The reopening of the investigations of the high-profile killings related to the war on drugs should indicate that the Marcos administration places the highest importance on the fair dispensation of justice and on the universal observance of the rule of law in the country,” Bersamin said in a statement.
The PNP’s move comes amid increasing cries from human rights groups to hold key Duterte administration personalities accountable for their roles in the killing of thousands of drug suspects.
However, Malacañang previously stated that it will not put the country under the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction again just to accommodate international prosecutors’ case against the previous administration.
“The Philippines will not return to ICC. Based on this, the president is not expected to change his mind and now refer the quadcom [Quad Committee] matter to the ICC,” Bersamin said.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019, during former President Duterte’s term, after the court began probing allegations of human rights abuses during his bloody “war on drugs”.
Mr. Marcos has remained consistent in his refusal to rejoin the ICC, citing national sovereignty and insisting that the Philippines’ legal system is capable of handling such cases.
Meanwhile, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Ace Barbers, the House Quad Committee’s designated chair, said the panel will not submit any of its findings or documents related to extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the Duterte administration’s drug war to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“My personal stand on the issue is that since we are not members of the ICC, and the President (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) has made a clear statement as to his position on the ICC, I will support that position,” Barbers said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview over Kapihan sa Manila Bay.
“We will not give any document or transcript made by the Quad Comm in relation to the EJKs for the ICC’s use because, again, we are not members of the ICC. And following the statement of the President, we will stick to that,” he added.
However, the lawmaker pointed out that the results of their investigation can be accessed online.
“If they want to have access to records or access to information about the investigation, the ICC can go to social media platforms. It’s a public record. They can access that anytime and we will not stop them from doing that,” Barbers said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Palace backs PNP reinvestigation of drug war killings.”
