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MANILA, Philippines — Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson Barry Gutierrez has advised former president Rodrigo Duterte to stop avoiding the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation, as he has nothing to fear if he has done nothing wrong.
Gutierrez, who is also a former House lawmaker, threw back to Duterte on Thursday a line used to lecture suspected drug users and dealers during the height of the drug war — if you have not done something wrong, why are you afraid?
“Dadagdag ko lang ang isang nausong hirit noong nakaraang administrasyon: Kung wala kayong kasalanan, bakit kayo takot na takot?” Gutierrez, who was with OVP during the tenure of opposition leader and ex-vice president Leni Robredo, said.
(I would just like to use a punchline that became famous during the last administration: If you have not done anything wrong, why are you so afraid?)
“Kung pinaninindigan niyo ang pagpapatupad sa so-called ‘drug war’ ninyo, bakit iwas kayo ng iwas sa ICC?,” he added.
(If you insist that the implementation of your so-called drug war was above board, why do you avoid the ICC?)
Gutierrez said he is optimistic about the ICC probe finally moving within 2024.
“This 2024 might see movement on the ICC case regarding the so-called drug war,” he claimed.
Gutierrez along with Robredo were among the staunchest critics of Duterte’s drug war — their criticism was so fierce to the point that the former president dared Robredo to take on a drug czar role late 2019.
READ: BREAKING: Robredo accepts drug czar post offer
Duterte and other key officials of his administration — like Senator Ronald dela Rosa who was the ex-president’s first police chief — are respondents in complaints filed by drug war victims’ relatives before the ICC.
The drug war victims’ kin alleged that Duterte, dela Rosa, and other officials committed the crime against humanity of mass murder, when the government implemented the war against illegal drugs.
However, Duterte and his allies maintain that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, especially since the country withdrew from the Rome Statute — the treaty that created the ICC — in March 2018.
Dela Rosa, for his part, said that he still holds on to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s assurance that ICC investigators would not be allowed in the Philippines. But in the case that probers are given access by the Marcos administration, dela Rosa said that Duterte may run for a Senate seat in 2025.