Joseph Azil Buena

The Malacañang Palace, through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, on Oct. 14 reiterated that the Philippines will not return to the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite calls from lawyer and human rights groups to cooperate with the tribunal regarding details of the ongoing drug war probe.

Photo Courtesy of International Criminal Court.

“The Philippines will not return to the ICC. The President is not expected to change his mind and not refer the quad comm matter to the ICC,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told Palace reporters through a text message.

This follows as lawyer and ICC assistant-to-counsel Kristina Conti, and other groups urged President Marcos to submit the quad-comm investigation materials to the ICC ‘for inclusion in the prosecution's case build-up on crimes against humanity’ in the Philippines.

The palace has since maintained its position and also said that the government does not consider sending information and findings of the House quad-committee to the ICC after newly-emerged testimonies on the drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and retired police colonel Royina Garma stood before the House last week with their accounts on the drug war, with the former linking Duterte to his father’s slay, and the latter mentioning a ‘cash-for-killings’ system under the then-president.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on Monday also recommended that the quad-comm consider handing or referring its records to executive agencies, like the Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, or the Ombudsman, instead of the ICC, for ‘appropriate investigation and prosecution’.

“It would even be better if all pieces of evidence gathered from the congressional committee hearings are turned over to our own executive agencies for appropriate investigation and prosecution,” Guevarra said in a statement.

In January this year, President Marcos firmly told reporters during a media interview his stance on the issue, saying that his government “will not assist in any way, shape or form, any of the investigations” the ICC conducts or will conduct in the Philippines.

“Let me say this for the 100th time. I do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines. I do not … I consider it as a threat to our sovereignty. The Philippine government will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts,” Marcos said.

Marcos has also defended the Philippines’ capability to have a working justice system to resolve and investigate issues related to these high-profile cases.

The ICC is currently investigating an alleged ‘crime against humanity’ charge in the Philippines related to the war on drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte from the 2010s, tracing back to his term as Davao City mayor.

In 2018, months after the ICC announced its conduct of a preliminary investigation on the killings related to the drug war, Duterte announced withdrawal of the Philippine’s membership to the Rome Statute, which established the international tribunal citing ‘baseless and outrageous attacks’.