The Marcos administration expressed its full support for the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) plan to reinvestigate high-profile killings linked to the country’s controversial war on drugs.
In a statement Wednesday, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin 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.
The PNP’s move comes amid increasing calls from human rights groups for accountability in the drug war, which began during the Duterte administration.
However, Malacañang previously stated that it has no interest in returning under the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the previous admin’s anti-drug campaign.
“The Philippines will not return to ICC. Based on this, the president is not expected to change his mind and now refer the Quad Comm matter to the ICC,” Bersamin said in a statement.
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”.
President 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.
