Bongbong Marcos to be consulted on ICC drug war probe

Former Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will have to be consulted regarding the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Philippines to comment on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s move to resume the investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said on Monday.

“There are state sovereignty issues involved. We need to cover those points, first and foremost,” Guevarra told reporters via Viber.

“[The president] has not had the occasion to discuss the ICC case thoroughly with anyone. But I intend to consult with him about it very soon,” he said.

Guevarra, the justice secretary during the Duterte administration, said the Office of the Solicitor General was already studying several legal options in dealing with the ICC probe.

The Philippine government, he said, may question the jurisdiction of the ICC and the “admissibility of the case” as Duterte and his subordinates had done previously.

The solicitor general said the government might also opt to “leave our lines of communication with the ICC open.”

He said any decision on the matter will have to be discussed with the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice, international law experts, and the Office of the President.

PH withdrawal from ICC

Duterte, himself a lawyer, had claimed that the ICC lost its jurisdiction over him when he announced in March 2018 the Philippines’ withdrawal as a state party to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the tribunal.

But former ICC Judge Raul Pangalangan, the first Filipino jurist who served in the international tribunal, had maintained that the withdrawal will not protect Duterte from the ICC probe or for him to evade responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of alleged victims of the drug war.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa reiterated on Monday that he will not cooperate with the ongoing investigation by the ICC on the killings linked to the government’s war on drugs, insisting it did not have jurisdiction over the Philippines’ “domestic affairs.”

In an interview, Dela Rosa maintained that the country’s courts remain operational, and can handle the prosecution of those involved in the “drug war” killings, including former President Duterte and himself.

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