The International Criminal Court has suspended its investigation into suspected rights abuses committed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” following a request from Manila.
The Hague-based court in September authorized a probe of the campaign that has left thousands of people dead, saying it resembled an illegitimate and systematic attack on civilians.
According to court documents, Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands Eduardo Malaya requested a deferral.
“The prosecution has temporarily suspended its investigative activities while it assesses the scope and effect of the deferral request,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan wrote in a court notification dated November 18.
He said the prosecution would request additional information from the Philippines.
Despite its request to the ICC, Manila said it maintained that the court had no jurisdiction.
“We reiterate that it is the position of the Philippine government that the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over it,” Duterte’s spokesman Karlo Nograles said in a statement Saturday.
ICC…“In any event, we welcome the judiciousness of the new ICC prosecutor, who has deemed it fit to give the matter a fresh look and we trust that the matter will be resolved in favor of the exoneration of our government and the recognition of the vibrancy of our justice system,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of human rights lawyers on Saturday urged the ICC to reject the requests to defer its probe.
“We ask the ICC not to allow itself to be swayed by the claims now being made by the Duterte administration. These are so contrary to what is happening on the ground and should never be taken at face value,” the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said in a statement.
In his letter requesting a deferral, ambassador Malaya said the Philippine government was investigating the alleged crimes against humanity committed during the drug war.
He said the Philippine government “has undertaken, and continues to undertake, thorough investigations of all reported deaths during anti-narcotic operations in the country”.
Human Rights Watch dismissed the claim that the Philippines’ existing domestic mechanisms afford citizens justice as “absurd” and an attempt to stave off the ICC probe.
“Only 52 out of thousands of killings are in early stages of investigation. Despite many clear-cut cases of murder, no charges have even been filed,” the rights group’s Asia director Brad Adams tweeted Saturday.
“The reality is that impunity is the norm under President Duterte, which is why the ICC needs to investigate. Let’s hope the ICC sees through the ruse that it is.”
Human rights advocacy group Centerlaw likewise called on the ICC to “in the interests of international justice, to authorise the OTP (Office of the Prosecutor) to continue with their investigations of the Situation in the Philippines, as empowered under Article 18(2) of the Rome Statute.”
Centerlaw also said the government’s request for deferral of the ICC’s investigation, claiming that “it is investigating or has investigated” the crimes against humanity in Duterte’s drug war, is “further from the truth.”
“On the contrary, the fact that only 52 cases of the estimated 30,000 dead have been reviewed reveals that the government’s feigned compliance with international justice is paper thin,” Centerlaw said.
Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations Enrique Manalo earlier said the ICC should allow the government to finish the review of drug war cases before conducting the investigation.
Duterte was elected in 2016 on a campaign promise to get rid of the Philippines’ drug problem, openly ordering police to kill drug suspects if officers’ lives were in danger.
At least 6,181 people have died in more than 200,000 anti-drug operations conducted since July 2016, according to the latest official data released by the Philippines.
ICC prosecutors in court papers estimate the figure to be between 12,000 and 30,000 dead.
For former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the ICC’s temporary suspension of the drug war probe “is just part of the due process.”
In a statement on Saturday, Trillanes pointed out that the ICC is giving itself time “to determine if the government’s supposed own investigation is genuine.”
But he expressed confidence the ICC will soon find out that the state investigation “is just part of the cover up of President Duterte” and that the international court “will soon resume its investigation.”
Moreover, Trillanes said that the government’s request for deferment is tantamount to the Duterte administration’s recognition of ICC’s jurisdiction over it.
In December 2020, Trillanes said he and former Magdalo congressman Gary Alejano sought the intervention of the ICC in connection with the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Duterte pulled Manila out of the ICC in 2019 after it launched a preliminary probe, but the court says it has jurisdiction over crimes committed while the Philippines was still a member.
After long refusing to admit the court had any power to intervene and refusing to cooperate, Duterte backtracked in October to say he would prepare his defense.
In a six-page letter dated Nov. 10 and released on Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs through Malaya told ICC’s Khan that the Philippine judicial system remains alive and functioning.
“In accordance with the principle of complementarity under which the Court operates, the Philippine government has the first responsibility and right to prosecute international crimes,” the Philippines’ letter to ICC prosecutor said.
“The Court may only exercise jurisdiction where national legal systems fails to do so, which certainly is not the case in the Philippines… the domestic institutions in the Philippines are fully functional and more than adequate to address the issues and concerns raised,” it added.
The Filipino envoy stressed that the Philippine government is thoroughly investigating all reported deaths during anti-narcotic operations in the country.
Malaya also cited the latest review of the Department of Justice, particularly the release of an information matrix on 52 cases where administrative liability was found on the part of law enforcement.
“These cases are to undergo further investigation and case build-up for the possible filing of criminal charges against erring PNP (Philippine National Police) members,” he argued.
The ICC prosecutor’s probe will also cover the killings in the Davao area between November 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016, when President Duterte was mayor of Davao City.
Khan vowed to conduct an independent and impartial investigation on the matter.
“My investigation will seek to uncover the truth and aim to ensure accountability. We will focus our efforts on ensuring a successful, independent, and impartial investigation,” he said, in a statement last October. With AFP