The House Quad Committee has remained firm that no findings on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign will be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite speculations of an imminent arrest warrant against him.
The panel’s chairperson, Ace Barbers, reaffirmed in an interview on Sunday that their position remains unchanged, aligning with the government’s stance that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019 under Duterte’s directive.
However, Barbers clarified that the international tribunal can access relevant records independently since the investigations are publicly available on the official Facebook and YouTube pages of the House of Representatives.
“In the second Quadcomm hearing, we made it clear that we have no participation in the ICC and will not cooperate with it,” he said.
Barbers continued, “They should not expect us to turn over any transcripts from our hearings. If they want to use them, that is up to them because the records of those hearings are on social media platforms.”
Barbers made the statement amid reports that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against Duterte for alleged crimes against humanity committed during his war on drugs.
The warrant was allegedly issued on 8 March.
Reports of the ICC’s arrest warrant against Duterte first emerged last year, at the height of the Quadcomm’s investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings linked to his anti-narcotics campaign.
Before testifying at the quad comm’s investigation on 13 November, Duterte — renowned for his tough-talking and aggressive rhetoric — told a Senate hearing last year that he was taking “full legal responsibility” for the killings committed by police during his drug war.
He also admitted under oath that he encouraged police to provoke drug suspects to fight back as a pretext to kill them.
In December, the Quadcomm recommended filing criminal charges against Duterte and his close allies, Senators Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, both of whom were implicated in the drug war.
The ICC temporarily halted its investigation into Duterte’s drug war after the country launched a parallel probe through the Quadcomm.
The Philippines officially withdrew from the Rome Statute in March 2019, following the ICC’s preliminary investigation into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which accused him of human rights violations. However, the ICC maintains it retains jurisdiction over crimes committed before the country’s withdrawal.
Earlier, Duterte challenged the ICC to come to the Philippines as soon as possible, saying he might die before they begin investigating his drug war.
“They can come here anytime. You know, we’re not hiding… If I am found guilty, I will go to prison and rot there for all time,” Duterte bluntly remarked.
If he had the means, Duterte, a lawyer, said he would personally go to the ICC and investigate himself.