PNP to snub arrest warrant for Duterte if ICC issues one

A Senate panel has invited former President Rodrigo Duterte as among its resource speakers during the second hearing on the controversial people’s initiative for Charter change. (Photo from the official Facebook page of Rody Duterte)

MANILA, Philippines — If the warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for former President Rodrigo Duterte ever comes out, the Philippine National Police (PNP) will not enforce it, according to its spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo.

Although PNP has no confirmed information on the issuance of the arrest warrant, Fajardo said it will not act on it since the ICC has no jurisdiction in the country.

“Yes [we will not enforce it] because there is already a question of jurisdiction. We think this is an interference in the sovereignty of our country, and we always say not only in the eyes of the PNP but also in the concerned government agencies that our judicial system is working,” Fajardo said, partly speaking in Filipino, in a press briefing on Wednesday.

“This is not only about our former president but also applies to every ordinary citizen who might have a case outside the PNP’s jurisdiction. So certain coordination is required under our existing laws,” she added.

On Tuesday, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte received information that he might be arrested at any time amid the ICC’s investigation of his administration’s drug war.

READ: Rodrigo Duterte gets info he may be arrested at any time – Harry Roque

Earlier, PNP chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. said they ha no confirmed information on reports that ICC investigators visited the country last December and were able to gather enough evidence against the former president worthy of an arrest warrant.

Acorda issued this statement after former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV revealed that “ICC investigators have already done what they needed to do in their initial investigation inside the country as far as the principal accused are concerned.”

Trillanes also claimed that investigators were just waiting for the arrest warrant, which he claimed “may come very, very soon.”

READ: PNP: No confirmed reports on ICC’s drug war probe in PH

Based on reports, Duterte’s war on drugs left at least 6,000 people dead; however, various human rights groups and advocates claim that the number may have reached 20,000.

Duterte and Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who was a PNP chief during the last administration, were among the respondents of the crimes against humanity case pending before the ICC.

On November 24 of last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the government was considering resuming its membership in the ICC following discussions in the House of Representatives regarding the possibility of allowing its investigators to probe the drug war during the term of his predecessor.