Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 13) — Days before the Philippines effectively withdraws from the International Criminal Court, President Rodrigo Duterte said he is ready to face a death sentence from the court.
“For the things that I have said, ordered and done, I am willing to put my neck dito sa mga bagay na ito [for these things],” Duterte said at the campaign of PDP-Laban candidates in Isabela Wednesday. “Eh baka balang araw itong ICC na itong mga bugok na ito [Maybe one day the ICC, these idiots], if they decide to hang me, I would be very glad to go and ako pa ang maglagay [I will place the noose].”
The Philippines’ withdrawal of membership from the international court will take effect on March 17. It will be the second country to exit from the tribunal since Burundi in 2017.
Duterte pulled the country out of the ICC in February 2018, a month after it announced a preliminary examination on alleged extrajudicial killings in the country prompted by two communications filed in connection with the drug war.
But the court may decide to launch an investigation into Duterte’s drug war, according to Jude Sabio. Sabio submitted to the ICC a 77-page document on the killings, followed by supplemental information from opposition lawmakers Senator Antonio Trillanes and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano. They said over a thousand were killed by the so-called Davao Death Squad, while thousands more were killed in the war on drugs since Duterte became president.
Two petitions are also pending before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the international tribunal.
