Despite former President Rodrigo Duterte’s transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Philippine government’s investigation into the drug war killings remains unaffected and steadfast, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla emphasized yesterday.

Remulla stressed that the Department of Justice (DoJ) remains“unrelenting” in its effort to hold those responsible for the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) accountable, regardless of Duterte’s trial in The Hague.

“This is continuous. We’ve been doing our work on the EJKs. It’s slow grinding police work, law enforcement work that we have to pick up because the reports are not complete. We have to recreate many of the records and many of the things that happened,” Remulla said.

He said the government’s work of investigating the deaths linked to the anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration has not slowed, even with the heightened international focus on the issue.

Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity over his administration’s bloody war on drugs, was arrested and transferred to Scheveningen prison in The Hague, the Netherlands last week.

His detention has brought renewed scrutiny on the Philippines’ human rights record, drawing attention to the thousands of deaths during the anti-drug campaign, which many critics have condemned as a series of extrajudicial killings.

Remulla made it clear that the government’s investigations into the drug war killings will not interfere with the ICC case. He noted that a person cannot be tried twice for the same act.

“We are avoiding that. It’s different in the ICC, it’s different here. We don’t want to mix them together,” he said in Filipino. “Because if there is one jurisdiction already hearing a case, this should not be repeated. It is not right.”

He explained that the Philippine government is working within its own legal processes while the ICC is handling its case separately.

Nonetheless, Remulla reaffirmed the government’s commitment to achieving justice for the victims of the drug war.

“We just want justice,” he reiterated, emphasizing that the goal is to ensure that all those responsible for the unlawful killings during Duterte’s tenure are held accountable.

Complaints keep pouring in

Earlier, Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano confirmed the government’s investigations remained active and were gaining momentum.

Clavano assured that the government would not halt its probes despite Duterte’s arrest and trial abroad. He stressed that the DoJ continues to receive a steady stream of complaints and evidence from the families of the victims.