President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday said that his government will not stop the International Criminal Court (ICC) from investigating the Duterte administration’s drug war but will not cooperate with it either.
“If iyon ‘yung good news to him, kay PRRD (former President Rodrigo Duterte), then hindi naman kami haharang sa mga ICC. ‘Di lang kami tutulong,” Marcos told reporters in a chance interview.
“Ngunit kung pumapayag siya, makipag-usap siya or magpaimbestiga siya sa ICC, nasa kanya iyon. Wala na kami desisyon doon,” he added.
(If that’s good news for former President Duterte, then we will not block the ICC. We’ll just not cooperate. But if he himself wants to be investigated, it’s up to him. It’s not our decision.)
During a hearing by the House Quad Committee (QuadComm) on Wednesday, Duterte dared the ICC to conduct an immediate investigation on his war on drugs, blamed for the deaths of thousands of individuals.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin earlier said the government will not object if Duterte wants to surrender himself to the jurisdiction of the ICC.
In the same interview on Thursday, Marcos said the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are already investigating Duterte-era drug war deaths.
“It is being done by the PNP and we are waiting for their findings. All of the testimony that was given yesterday will be taken in,” he said.
“It will be assessed to see what is consequence of some of the statements made by former President Duterte that will result in a case being filed here. That is the responsibility of the Department of Justice,” Marcos added.
The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019 after The Hague-based tribunal began a probe into the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Based on government records, around 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations. Human rights organizations, however, say the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related slays. —KBK, GMA Integrated News
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