Marcos maintains stand vs ICC probe into war on drugs

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in Germany (Official facebook page of Bongbong Marcos)

BERLIN – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday maintained that he will not cooperate with the investigation of the International Criminal Court on the bloody war on illegal drugs of his predecessor,Rodrigo Duterte.

The President made the remarks in his tete-a-tete with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at The Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) on Tuesday, in which Marcos touted the changes that the government adopted in its fight against illegal drugs.

Scholz asked Marcos about the investigation of the International Criminal Court on the bloody war on illegal drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The President told reporters here that the German Chancellor brought up the topic in their working lunch that followed the tete-a-tete.

“He just basically asked the status of the investigation into the anti-illegal drugs war of the previous administration. I explained to him our concerns over jurisdiction that we have explained many times over. Our concerns over the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines and why we are not recognizing that jurisdiction, the reason behind that. I think he just wanted to be informed,” Marcos said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The President said he “went further beyond just explaining” the Philippines’ position on the ICC’s investigation on Oplan Tokhang, which was heavily criticized for its high death toll of drug suspects.

He informed the German Chancellor that they “actually, completely changed the concept of the anti-illegal drugs campaign.”

“In my view, the enforcement can only take you so far, and we have taken it as far as we can, and the opinion of some, taken it beyond. So what we need to look at now is the prevention and rehabilitation, which is, I think a different approach, a much different approach. He listened to my explanation and I think he was satisfied,” he told reporters.

In his visit to Washington last year, Marcos said there were indeed abuses committed during the Duterte administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs and that it focused too much on law enforcement.

It may be recalled that the President said the government will not cooperate with the ICC’s probe as he does not recognize its jurisdiction over the Philippines.

The Philippines formally ended its ties with the ICC in March 2019 upon the orders of Duterte.

Earlier this year, Marcos said the government will “not lift a finger to help any investigation” of the ICC amid reports that its investigators were already in the country, and that they will keep a close eye on the ICC to ensure that they don’t come into contact with any government agency.