Roque on ICC’s probe: Expect no cooperation from PH

The Philippines will not cooperate even if the International Criminal Court (ICC) will proceed with its preliminary examination on President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement days after the ICC maintained that Manila’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute would not affect its ongoing preliminary examination.

‘“[W]hen the ICC said that we continue to be bound by a duty to cooperate, I would like to reiterate that the President’s decision was to immediately, withdraw. I don’t think the ICC can look forward to cooperation from the Philippines as a state party or a soon to be former state party to the International Criminal Court,” Roque said in a Palace briefing.

“I don’t know how the ICC can proceed without cooperation from the Philippine State,” he added.

In a statement on March 14, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that the Philippines’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the ICC.

READ: Duterte does the inevitable, declares PH withdrawal from ICC

The President said there appears to be a “concerted effort” between the United Nations special rapporteurs and the ICC special prosecutor to portray him as “ruthless and heartless violator of human rights.”

The United Nations Secretary General formally received the Philippines’ written notification of withdrawal from the Rome Statute on March 17.

The withdrawal will take effect a year after the UN Secretary General’s receipt of the notice, as stated under Sec. 127 of the statute, contrary to the “immediate” pullout that Duterte wanted.     /muf