Marcos admin ‘hands-off’ in ICC probe on Duterte’s drug war

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday maintained the government will not cooperate in any investigation to be launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his predecessor's war on drugs campaign. 

However, Marcos said his administration won't block the ICC probe should former President Rodrigo Duterte allow the Hague-based Criminal Court to investigate him.

“Well, as the comment of the Executive Secretary, the former Chief Justice, if ‘yun ang gugustuhin ni PRRD ay hindi naman kami haharang doon sa mga ICC. Hindi lang kami tutulong (if that’s the will of the former President, then we will not block the ICC. But we will not cooperate),” Marcos said in a media interview, after Duterte challenged the ICC to rush its inquiry into his anti-drug campaign. 

Marcos stressed his administration will remain hands-off on Duterte’s issues with the ICC.

“Ngunit kung pumapayag siya na makipag-usap siya o magpa-imbestiga siya sa ICC ay nasa kanya ‘yun. Wala na kaming desisyon doon (But if he allows it, if he decides to talk to them or be investigated, its all up to him. We can’t decide about it),” he said.

Marcos emphasized the government's stand on the ICC’s intervention in the Philippine judicial system "has not changed."

He noted that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are already investigating the previous administration’s anti-illegal drug campaign. 

The Department of Justice, he added, is already reexamining the statements and testimonies in connection with the extrajudicial killings and human rights violations during the implementation of Duterte’s drug war initiatives.

“But you know, all of the testimony that was given yesterday really will be taken in and will be assessed to see what—in legal terms—is the real meaning and consequence of some of the statements made by PRRD,” Marcos said.  

“Now, if that will result in a case being filed here in the Philippines, we will just have to see. The DOJ will have to make that assessment,” he added. 

Marcos likewise reiterated that the Philippines would not rejoin the ICC. 

Duterte formally withdrew the Philippines’ membership from the ICC on 17 March 2019—exactly a year after it revoked the Rome Statute that created the international tribunal. 

The previous government requested the Prosecutor defer to the Philippine government's investigations and proceedings in a 10 November 2021 letter signed by Ambassador to the Netherlands Eduardo Malaya.