DAHK3X The Hague NL International criminal court.
MANILA, Philippines — Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Immigration (BI) cannot confirm if International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators are already in the Philippines.
Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano told INQUIRER.net on Friday that BI cannot ascertain whether or not ICC representatives have arrived.
“The Bureau of Immigration cannot confirm their presence here. If ever they have come in, it was surreptitious and done with intent to evade detection,” he said on Viber.
Asked if DOJ will be open to working with ICC based in The Hague, Netherlands, he responded that the department considers international assistance.
However, the assistant secretary noticed ICC appeared to prefer “a complete and hostile takeover of the judicial process.”
“What we need are more pathologists, more resources for the witness protection program. If there are local or international groups willing to help us in this regard, we are open to cooperation,” he remarked.
“In the end, we want the same thing – justice for the victims,” he concluded.
For Clavano, the question if the ICC should be allowed to investigate the war on drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte has disturbed them.
“The issue of whether or not the ICC should come in has been highly politicized. We are distracted,” he said.
“The question should be, ‘what can we do to further expedite the investigations and court cases?’ and ‘how can we give the families the peace of mind they deserve?’” he suggested.
Duterte’s bloody war against illegal drugs drew international controversy and condemnation.
Families of victims and human rights groups filed cases at ICC for it to hold a probe into the alleged human rights abuses during the term of the former chief executive.
Initially keen on ending coordination with ICC, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. changed his tune.
Marcos is now saying government is studying the possibility of cooperating with the international court.
Reports said Duterte’s crackdown on drug suspects resulted in the deaths of about 6,000 people.
Some human rights groups believe the number could be as high as 20,000.