Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla (INQUIRER file photo)
MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday warned the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to “monkey around with our legal system.”
Remulla maintained that there is no mechanism in the Rome Statute by which the ICC can send their investigators to the country since the Philippines has a fully functioning justice system.
“If the ICC insist on coming in, let me tell you this, there is no mechanism by which the ICC can come in because this was not contemplated in the drafting of the law of the treaty before we become a signatory for a few years from which we withdrew from,” Remulla told reporters during the release of more than 400 inmates from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Asked if the government would order the arrest of ICC probers in the event that a team is sent to the country, Remulla said the ICC doing that would be a violation of our legal system.
“If they want to put into themselves the judicial powers of this country then they will be committing a violation of our legal system. Just a fair warning do not monkey around with our legal system,’ he added.
Last month, the pre-trial chamber of the ICC has granted the request of Karim Khan, its prosecutor request to resume the investigation of the Philippines’ war on drugs during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
On February 3, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra asked the ICC to suspend the probe pending formal appeal.
The Philippine government maintained that the country’s justice system is running and conducting its own investigation into allegations of human rights violations committed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.