President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his speech during an arrival ceremony at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. The President arrived on Monday, November 20, 2023, from his weeklong trip from the United States. INQUIRER.net/Ryan Leagogo
Updated on November 24, 2023 at 12:25 p.m.
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that the government is considering resuming its membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In an ambush interview in Taguig City, Marcos was asked for a reaction in the House of Representatives discussing the possibility of allowing ICC investigators to investigate the war on drugs under the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcos said that such measures are not unusual.
“It’s really a sense of the House resolution and the sense, they are just expressing or manifesting the sense of the House that perhaps it’s time to allow or to cooperate with the ICC investigations,” said Marcos.
“There is also a question, should we return under the fold of the ICC, so that’s again under study. So we’ll just keep looking at it and see what our options are,” he further added.
Marcos emphasized, however, that he stood by what he previously said about the issues with the ICC probe regarding the sovereignty of the Philippines.
“Simple lang naman ‘yang isyung ‘yan. Hindi naman siguro tama na ang mga tiga-labas, mga dayuhan ang magsasabi sa atin kung sino iimbestigahan ng pulis natin, sino aarestuhin ng pulis natin, sinong ikukulong ng pulis natin. Hindi naman siguro tama ‘yun. Dapat Pilipino lang ang gumagawa niyan,” said Marcos.
(The issue is simple. It is not right that outsiders and foreigners will tell our police who to investigate, who they will arrest, who they will imprison. That is not right. Filipinos should do that.)
In July, Marcos had been resolute in saying that the Philippine government was done working with the ICC in light of their probe into his predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
“That’s it. We have no appeals pending. We have no more actions being taken. So, I suppose that puts an end to our dealings with the ICC,” the President said previously.
However, several lawmakers in the Lower Chamber have begun deliberating proposals for government cooperation with the ICC.
Duterte’s war on drugs left at least 6,000 people dead, according to official government tallies. However, many human rights groups and advocates claim that the number may reach 20,000.
The ICC said it would probe the rampant killing that took place despite Duterte withdrawing the Philippines’ membership in the Court. The ICC, however, could still probe alleged crimes while the Philippines was under the Rome Statute.
Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the former president, deemed such an investigation unconstitutional.