Palace: Marcos admin no hand in ICC trial

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Marcos administration has no participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial, the Palace said after the camp of former President Rodrigo Duterte claimed the government has no objection to his possible interim release.

In a document to the ICC dated Sept. 26, Duterte’s counsel Nicholas Kaufman cited Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro’s remark in a briefing wherein she said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration will accept whatever the ICC decision is.

Castro said Kaufman “mastered the art of twisting some facts.”

“We want to be clear that the Marcos Jr. administration is not privy and has no hand to the former President Duterte's ongoing trial before ICC, particularly his request for interim release,” Castro said in a message to reporters on Saturday, Sept. 27.

“However, as part of the legal process, no matter what the ICC decides, we will still respect it,” she said.

Duterte has been detained at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands since March for supposed crimes against humanity for extrajudicial killings in relation to his bloody drug war.

ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte for three counts of murder.

The confirmation of charges hearing was initially set for Sept. 23, but it was delayed for a yet to be determined date amid assessment of the former leader’s health before deciding if a full-blown trial will proceed.

Based on human rights records, the drug war death toll reached up to 30,000, higher than government data of about 6,000.