ICC has no business going to Phl — DOJ

An official of the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot get the consent of the Philippine government as it has no business investigating the drug war in the country.

This was the answer of DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Atty. Mico Clavano when asked on Daily Tribune's "Straight Talk" on Thursday.

Clavano was answering the question about an earlier statement of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla regarding the ICC's visit to the country.

"Yes, that goes in line with what I mentioned a while ago na it's about consent. If we don't consent or agree for them to come they have no business in the Philippines, as well," said Clavano.

The ICC investigators have to secure a visa from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in order to enter the country; but without a visa, they cannot enter the country.

Clavano maintained that the country has a working justice system; thus, the ICC, in trying to enter the country and conduct investigations, may be overstretching or intruding into the sovereignty of the country.

"I'm sure they have good intentions. But maybe the methods by which they try to intrude into a sovereign country's jurisdiction might be overstretching it a little bit. So you know we have the same goal actually as the ICC. We want to be able to prosecute. So instead of replacing the government. Let's just collaborate. Let's just help each other. If you have evidence share it with us. If it's something we'll share it with you. But not in a hostile manner," explained Clavano.

He said that the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to disengage from the ICC.

"First of all we are no longer members of the Rome Statute and then we pleaded with them. Actually, we even participated but not because we submitted to their jurisdiction but because out of courtesy we submitted pleadings asking them to respect our sovereignty," said Clavano.

The ICC can enter a country to investigate if the subject has no existing justice system and a lot of them are countries found in Africa and some of them have no functioning government. Add to it is the fact that there is no stability. Peace and order are not even thought about.

However, Clavano said the Philippines has a justice system, working courts, prosecutors, investigators, and the police are all functional.

"So the ICC can only come in via the complementarity principle if there's no justice system. Now that we have a justice system and we've established that, they have to respect that. And that is the primary reason why we need to disengage from them because what they want is to come in and replace our government essentially," said Clavano.