Rejoining ICC not a priority — Palace

Malacañang on Thursday maintained that even with the confirmation of charges for then-President Rodrigo Duterte now proceeding at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, the Philippine government is not in a rush to become a member anew of the ICC.

“For now, there were no talks regarding that. That was not given a priority kung babalik sa ICC ang ating bansa,” she said in a Palace briefing.

Further, Castro said she cannot say why the President is not yet deciding if the Philippines will rejoin the ICC.

“I cannot give any categorical answer on that because he has not discussed anything about rejoining the ICC. Maybe, I will try to discuss this matter with the President this afternoon,” she said.

The Philippines officially withdrew from the ICC on 17 March 2019, a year after depositing its notice of withdrawal with the United Nations.

Although the withdrawal is effective, the ICC retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in the country while it was a state party, specifically from 1 November 2011 to 16 March 2019.

It’s Duterte’s call

Meanwhile, Castro said it’s up to former President Duterte if he does not want to show himself to the Filipinos following the decision of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber 1 to grant Duterte’s request to waive his right to attend the annual hearing on detention set for Friday, 27 February, allowing the proceeding to go forward in his absence.

“Ang Pangulo po kasi at ang administrasyon na ito ay hindi po makikialam sa nasabing hearing. Kung ang nais po ng dating Pangulong Duterte ay hindi magpakita sa taumbayan, kaniya pong desisyon iyan. At kung ito naman po ay naresolba ng ICC na payagan siya na huwag magpakita at hindi maging present sa kaniyang sariling hearing, igagalang po natin iyan,” Castro said.

Duterte’s absence on Friday would mean that the families of the supposed extrajudicial killing victims will not see Duterte being tried at the ICC, which most of them wanted to experience.