President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (left) and former president Rodrigo Duterte (right) (FILE PHOTOS)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will not hand former president Rodrigo Duterte over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“We don’t recognize the warrant that they will send to us,” Marcos said during the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines forum held in Manila Hotel when asked if Marcos’ administration would hand Duterte over once the ICC issued a warrant of arrest.
When asked if this meant that Duterte would not be turned over to the ICC, Marcos replied: “That’s a no.”
Duterte is facing a crimes against humanity case before the ICC in connection with the bloody war on drugs during his administration.
Marcos previously said the Philippines would not assist the ICC in its investigation, but that its investigators could visit the country “as ordinary people.”
He also reiterated that the Philippines does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC.
“We are well within international law when we take the position of not recognizing the jurisdiction of ICC in the Philippines,” Marcos said, noting that the ICC only has jurisdiction in countries without a functioning judicial system.
Duterte declared the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute or the treaty which established the ICC, in March 2018. The withdrawal took effect a year after, March 2019.
Despite this, the ICC retained jurisdiction over alleged crimes in the Philippines — from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019 — while the country was still a state party.
Duterte was the chief architect of the war on drugs, which claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.
But human rights watchdogs and the ICC itself estimated the toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 al