Philippine justice secretary urges ICC to notify DOJ on probe into ex-leader Duterte's drug war
Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he was unsure if International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors have entered the country without notice to probe a deadly anti-drug campaign spearheaded by ex-leader Rodrigo Duterte.
Remulla said the investigators had not contacted his department, and it was their "duty" to do so in accordance of the principles of international law.
His response came after a former presidential spokesman claimed on social media that the ICC officers were present in the Philippines.
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"One of my former associate-foreigners who is a member of the ICC has been to the Philippines. So, I have confirmation that these foreigners have been conducting investigations in the country which is in violation of our constitution because we are no longer members of the ICC," Roque said.
Remulla insisted on Monday that if the ICC believed it has a case, charges should be filed in the Philippines "because we are a country with a judicial system", The Manila Standard reported.
The Southeast Asian nation in 2019 withdrew from the international tribunal based in The Hague after then-president Duterte questioned its authority to investigate his police-enforced crackdown on illegal drugs, in which thousands of people were killed.
The killings being investigated by the ICC took place from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, in southern Davao city where Duterte was mayor, and later across the country after he became president.
Duterte has maintained that most of the victims were killed after violently resisting arrest, adding "kill me, jail me ... I will never apologise" for the deaths.
In a rare conviction, a Philippine court in 2018 sentenced three policemen up to 40 years in jail each for the killing of a teenage suspect in Metro Manila's Caloocan city.
The court rejected their claims that he opened fire at them with a pistol, prompting them to fire back. A security camera and witness accounts indicated that the teenager was dragged into a dark alley and shot to death as he pleaded for his life.
The ICC last July sought to reopen the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed under Duterte's drug war after turning down Manila's appeal against the inquiry.
The Philippines argued that the ICC had no jurisdiction in the country and that authorities there were conducting their own probe.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has said his administration was exploring options to resume membership of the ICC, but questions over jurisdiction and sovereignty were still "problems" for the Philippines.
The country's lower Congress last year urged the government to cooperate with the ICC prosecutor in its probe, after opposition lawmakers cited Duterte's admission in a television programme that he used intelligence funds to bankroll extrajudicial killings when he was mayor of Davao city.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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