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Philippines defiant, says won't cooperate with ICC investigation
Jesus Crispin Remulla said the ICC should not impose on the Philippines, which is no longer a signatory to the international tribunal.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (center) gives a peace sign with members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) during the Ceremonial Confirmation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law Plebescite Law Canvass Results and Oath-taking of Transition Authority at the Malacanang palace in Manila on February 22, 2019. (AFP/Noel Cellis)
T
he International Criminal Court's decision to allow a probe into the Philippines' drugs war to resume is an "irritant", the country's justice secretary said on Friday, maintaining the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country's affairs.
Jesus Crispin Remulla said the ICC should not impose on the Philippines, which is no longer a signatory to the international tribunal.
"They are insulting us," Remulla told a media briefing after the ICC granted its prosecutor's request to reopen an investigation into the killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte's 'war on drugs' and other suspected rights abuses.
Police say they killed 6,200 dealers who resisted arrest during anti-drug operations during Duterte's term. Many thousands more users and peddlers were gunned down during the crackdown, in what authorities said were vigilante killings. Rights groups and some victims accuse the police of systematic cover-ups and executions, which they deny.
The ICC, which had suspended the investigation in November 2021 at Manila's request, said in a statement it was "not satisfied that the Philippines is undertaking relevant investigations that would warrant a deferral of the investigation."
But Remulla said the timing of the ICC's move was "very wrong" since the country is "doing what it takes to fix the system," like improving law enforcement agencies, including the police.
"I do not welcome this move of the ICC and I will not welcome them to the Philippines until they make clear that they will respect us in this regard," Remulla said.
He said the country was open to dialogue with the ICC, and would provide the court with data if asked, but "they cannot come in here and impose themselves on us."
Former police chief Ronaldo dela Rosa, who oversaw Duterte's bloody crackdown, had earlier said he would cooperate with the ICC if the government decided to participate.
Current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the vice president, who is Duterte's daughter, did not comment on the latest ICC decision. He said in August he had no intention of rejoining the ICC after Duterte pulled out of the court in 2019, after accusing it of prejudice.
President Marcos, elected in a landslide last year, has vowed to continue the drug war but with a focus on prevention and rehabilitation. He has, so far, ruled out reversing Duterte's decision to pull the Philippines out of the ICC.
Human Rights Watch said the ICC investigation was the only credible path to justice for victims and their families.
"As the court's judges agreed, Philippine authorities are not 'undertaking relevant investigations' into these crimes or 'making a real or genuine effort' to carry these investigations out," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "The ICC offers a path forward to fill the accountability vacuum."
Families of many drug war victims are still seeking justice in long, drawn-out cases.
In a rare conviction, a Philippine court in 2018 sentenced three police officers to up to 40 years in jail for the murder of a 17-year-old high school student. The teenager's death featured in a report by a former ICC prosecutor.
National Union of People's Lawyers chairman Edre Olalia told AFP: "This is indeed very welcome news coming as it does in the midst of continuing impunity, selective memory and orchestrated denial by the past and present governments."
The group represents some of the dead suspects' families in a handful of cases being tried in Philippine courts against police officers.
Olalia said the ICC announcement "validates" the assertions of the slain suspects' kin that "there are no adequate and effective measures to achieve concrete justice for them on the ground... despite official claims to the contrary".
Only three police officers have been convicted of unlawful drug war killings, while another police officer was jailed in November last year for planting evidence and torturing two teenagers killed at the height of the crackdown.
"The ICC investigation in the Philippines is the only credible avenue for justice for the victims and their families of former President Rodrigo Duterte's murderous 'war on drugs'," Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson said in a statement.
Renato Reyes, a senior leader of the left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Nationalist Alliance) urged Marcos in a statement to cooperate with the ICC probe "so that justice can be rendered to the thousands of victims of Duterte's failed drug war".
