Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra
MANILA, Philippines — The decision on whether the country will rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) rests with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday after the House quad committee hearings turned out damning allegations against former President Rodrigo Duterte in relation to his campaign against drugs.
In a statement, Assistant Justice Secretary Mico Clavano said the DOJ recognized calls to submit the congressional report on drug war killings to the ICC, as well as appeals to rejoin the court.
But he emphasized that the President remained the chief architect of the country’s foreign policy.
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“As such, the department will fully abide by and adhere to the President’s foreign policy direction on this matter,” Clavano said.
Malacañang on Monday firmly dismissed calls for the Marcos administration to consider the testimonies of key witnesses in the House hearings and submit the findings to the ICC to aid its investigation of the extrajudicial killings that happened under the previous administration.
No change in stance
“The Philippines will not return to the ICC,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement. “Based on this, the President is not expected to change his mind and now refer the quad [committee] matter to the ICC.”
Bersamin made the remark in reaction to a statement from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers for Mr. Marcos to submit the quad committee materials to the international court.
Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde also said it would be more preferable for the government to cooperate with the ICC by granting investigators access to witnesses and testimonies, given the revelations made by retired Police Col. Royina Garma regarding Duterte’s drug war.
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, for his part, stated it would be “better” for the House quad committee to hand over the evidence gathered during its hearings either to the DOJ, National Bureau of Investigation or the Office of the Ombudsman, for case build-up or further investigation.
The Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) role, he noted, would come in “much later.”
“For now, the quad committee may refer its initial findings to the DOJ/NBI or to the Ombudsman, as these are the agencies that have the mandate to build on the findings of the congressional committees with respect to criminal matters,” Guevarra said.
While testifying before the House committee on Oct. 11, retired Police Col. Royina Garma, whom Duterte appointed to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, claimed that he offered cash rewards for each drug suspect killed during his administration’s antinarcotics campaign which left thousands dead.