The Department of Justice should mirror the stance of President Ferdinand Marcos on the investigation of the International Criminal Court into the Duterte administration’s controversial drug war, Senator Imee Marcos said Thursday.

In a television interview, the older Marcos reminded her younger brother to take a uniformed stand on the issue as it is causing confusion among others.

“With ICC, let's have the DOJ and all their employees undersecretaries, and what have you, echo the president's message that there should be an end to this,” she said.

“This should be clear. The government can't go rogue. Everyone is just saying different things,” she added.

Last month, President Marcos reiterated that the Philippine government would not cooperate with the ICC’s investigation into the bloody drug war of his predecessor, stressing that he considered the international body a “threat” to the country’s sovereignty.

“I consider it as a threat to our sovereignty. Therefore, the Philippine government will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts," he said.

He made the assurance a month after he said that he was studying the country’s possible return to the ICC.

The Philippines withdrew its membership from the Rome Statute in March 2018 upon the order of then-president Rodrigo Duterte. The withdrawal took effect on 17 March 2019.

Marcos’ predecessor, Duterte is accused of committing crimes against humanity before the ICC in relation to his bloody war on drugs that killed at least 7,000 people, according to government data, which was questioned by both local and international human rights groups, stressing that the actual figure is higher than the said numbers.

Five years after the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, several resolutions both from the House of Representatives and the Senate have been filed to urge the Marcos administration to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation into Duterte’s drug war.

Marcos vs. Duterte

Meanwhile, Senator Imee admitted that the issue on the ICC may have played a role in the ongoing feud between her brother and the former president, whom she considers a “friend.”

"I'm certain that the ICC is among them," she said.

The 78-year-old father of Vice President Sara Duterte caught himself in a word war with Marcos Jr. after the latter hit back at his allegations that he is a drug user.

Before departing for his official visit to Vietnam on Monday, the president took a swipe against the 78-year-old former president.

“I think it’s the fentanyl,” he said when asked for a reaction to the former president’s accusation against him that he is a “drug addict.”

“Fentanyl is the strongest painkiller you can buy. It is highly addictive and it has very serious side effects and PRRD has been taking the drug for a very long time now,” he added.

Over the weekend, the former president accused his successor of being a drug addict during the prayer rally organized by his supporters in Davao City.

“When I was the mayor, the (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) presented evidence to me. Your name was on the (drug) list. I didn’t want to reveal it because we were friends, or if not friends, at least acquaintances,” Duterte said.

However, the PDEA refuted the claim the following day, stating that the president was never on their drug watch list.

On Wednesday, the older Duterte dared Marcos Jr. to undergo a drug test in public to prove that he is not a drug user.

The President has yet to comment on the challenge.