The Philippines will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite new information from key personalities on the state-sanctioned war on drugs that happened during the previous administration.
According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, which was forwarded by Presidential Communications Office Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez to reporters, President Marcos will not change his mind on the country’s withdrawal from the court.
“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, referring to the House Quad Committee, which leads an ongoing inquiry into the drug war and related issues.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019, during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, after the court began probing allegations of human rights abuses during his bloody “war on drugs.”
President Marcos 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.
Earlier, the families of victims of extrajudicial killings (EJK) urged the government to rejoin the ICC and submit evidence related to the country’s war on drugs, citing the recent testimony of retired police colonel Royina Garma as crucial to ongoing investigations.
Legal counsel Kristina Conti, speaking on behalf of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), said Garma’s sworn statement provides significant insight into the pattern of extrajudicial killings and identifies those “most responsible” for the incidents.
“Her statement ties up why all those senseless killings on the ground happened, and on another hand, why policemen are complicit and willful participants,” Conti said.
The NUPL is urging Marcos to submit materials from the Quad Comm investigation to the ICC for inclusion in the prosecution’s case-building efforts on alleged crimes against humanity.
Conti emphasized that the ICC should consider all material and relevant information, and Garma’s testimony is a key piece of evidence.
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