Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 19) — The Marcos administration will consider it a crime if members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) come to the country to investigate the Duterte administration’s bloody drug crackdown, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said a day after the tribunal decided to resume the probe.
In a media briefing on Wednesday, Remulla maintained that the government will not cooperate with the ICC -– something President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself previously said.
The Justice Secretary also said he will advise Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra to no longer engage with the international court.
“Hindi na tayo makikipag-usap sa kanila,” Remulla said.
“Hindi natin sila gustong pumunta dito. At ‘wag na ‘wag silang pupunta dito sapagkat ang gagawin nila ay usurpation of authority ng Philippine government. Magkakaproblema tayong lahat. Pag ginawa nila yan, they’ll be violating our law and our legal system,” the official added.
[Translation: We will no longer talk to them. We don’t want them to come here. And they should never come here because if they do, that’s usurpation of authority of the Philippine government. That will be a problem for everyone. If they do that, they’ll be violating our law and our legal system.]
The Philippine National Police (PNP) echoed this stance.
“Ngayon meron nga question sa jurisdiction ng ICC [Now, the ICC’s jurisdiction is being questioned], and again as part of the executive department, we will follow and support the lead of the national government not to participate in the said investigation to be conducted by the ICC,” PNP Spokesperson PCol Jean Fajardo said, adding that the police force has already submitted itself to local investigations.
In rejecting the ICC’s probe, the government has repeatedly maintained that the court could no longer exercise jurisdiction over the country since the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2019.
Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, however, earlier argued that the court retains jurisdiction over crimes that were alleged to have occurred when the country was still a state party to the treaty.
TIMELINE: ICC’s probe into PH drug war
On Tuesday, the ICC appeals chamber — which rejected Manila’s plea against the resumption of the probe — said the decision being assailed by the government is not a decision on jurisdiction. It added that the impact of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the statue “was neither properly raised nor ventilated before the pre-trial chamber.”
