“It’s only a matter of time before the ICC finally issues an arrest warrant for Duterte et al. and make them accountable for mass murder”
YOU can’t get any clearer than this.
We’re talking about the latest development on the issue of whether the Philippine government will insist on its earlier stand that it will not allow the International Criminal Court to investigate the war on illegal drugs of the Rodrigo Duterte administration.
That development, which comes as a pleasant surprise for those avidly watching how the Philippine government appears to have flipped-flopped on the issue and finally executed a 180-degree turn on its earlier position, is the recent statement of Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra the Marcos Jr. administration would not stand in the way of the ICC prosecutor’s investigation of the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war from the 2016 to 2019 period.
What Guevarra actually said was this: “The Philippines has no legal duty to lend any assistance to the ICC prosecutor in conducting his investigation. But the Philippine government cannot stop him from proceeding any way he wants.”
No doubt, the Solicitor General’s latest pronouncement is likely to send shivers down the spines of those suspected of having a big role in implementing Duterte’s ‘kill-kill-kill’ directive to the Philippine National Police starting from his assumption to office in July 2016 until 2019 and even up to mid-2022.
Another recent development here is the disclosure by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes of an ICC document naming two former police chiefs and three other police officials as main suspects along with Rodrigo Duterte in the bloody war on drugs.
The PNP officially claims only more than 6,000 alleged drug suspects died when they chose to fight it out with police who wanted to arrest them (‘nanlaban’), but human rights groups here and abroad believe between 20,000 and 30,000 were murdered during the bloody campaign to cleanse the country of alleged drug traffickers and users.
In short, there’s enough evidence to prove the Rodrigo Duterte administration should be charged with crimes against humanity according to the ICC.
Another more recent development is the statement of Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla his agency will find it difficult to ignore an arrest order by the ICC against Duterte et al. if finally issued.
The DOJ, he said, cannot ignore an Interpol alert for the arrest of a suspected fugitive and does what it needs to do as part of the country’s treaty obligation.
These developments run in stark contrast to statements of President Marcos Jr. in January this year his administration would not lift a finger to aid the ICC probe into the drug war, since the tribunal’s action was a “threat” to the country’s sovereignty.
He also said in April the Philippines would not hand Duterte over to the ICC.
And they also indicate another departure from the previous government position that it will not accede or cooperate with any ICC investigation of the war on drugs as the Philippines has a working justice system.
But this argument flies in the face of the glaring reality only a handful of police officers have been convicted by our courts for grave abuses in the war on drugs.
The government’s earlier refusal to be covered by the ICC’s jurisdiction was based on its insistence the Philippines has a “robust and functional justice system capable of addressing internal issues without external interference.”
But this claim has been disputed by the findings of the advocacy group Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) Inc., which said 95 percent, or 92 out of 97 of the alleged extrajudicial killings it examined, were either never investigated or were not followed up after the routine initial inquiries by authoritiesTop of Form.
Their conclusion based on interviews with the families of the victims of Duterte’s war on drugs: there are no genuine investigations, completed or ongoing, from the Philippine government and its agents.
What all this means is that it’s only a matter of time before the ICC finally issues an arrest warrant for Duterte et al. and make them accountable for mass murder.
And the question is: When will the ICC arrest warrant be finally issued?
