Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra on Wednesday, Sept. 28, said the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC-PTC) has not ruled on the proposal to resume probe on alleged crimes against humanity committed in the illegal drugs operations during the term of then President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“What was published recently was the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s response to the Philippine government’s position on the issue,” Guevarra said.
Last Sept. 8, the Philippine government, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), submitted to the ICC-PTC the Observation on the Request of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to Resume Investigation in the Republic of the Philippines.
In his response to the Philippines’ submission, Khan told the ICC-PTC that the investigation should resume since the Philippine government has “not demonstrated – even with its additional submissions – that it has conducted or is conducting national investigations or prosecutions that sufficiently mirror the investigation authorized by the Chamber.”
Khan was reported to have also said that “nothing in the observations nor in the hundreds of pages of associated annexes substantiates that criminal proceedings actually have been or are being conducted in anything more than a small number of cases.”
But Guevarra assured “all questionable incidents where deaths of drug suspects occurred have been investigated or are currently being investigated.”
“This process takes time to yield results,” he said.
“We have to consider the number of incidents, the right of respondent law officers to due process, the willingness of witnesses to come out and testify, resource constraints, etc.,” he explained.
Guevarra pointed out that the OSG is studying “whether there is a need to reply to the prosecutor’s response.”
“Regardless of the Pre-Trial chamber’s ruling, however, the Philippine government will avail itself of all legal remedies, both domestic and international, even as it vigorously pursues its own investigation and prosecution of crimes committed in relation to the government’s so-called war on drugs, all within the framework of our own legal and judicial system,” he stressed.
Guevarra reiterated that the ICC “has no jurisdiction over the situation in the Philippines.”
“The alleged murder incidents that happened during the relevant period do not constitute ‘crimes against humanity’ considering that said incidents do not qualify as an ‘attack’ against the civilian population,” he said.
Guevarra pointed out that “the complaints filed before the ICC are already being investigated and prosecuted by the proper agencies and that the State is neither unwilling nor unable to carry out these domestic proceedings.”
“Under the complementarity principle, state-level investigative proceedings should take precedence, thereby rendering the resumption of the OTP’s investigation into the Philippine situation unwarranted,” he said.
The Philippines had been a signatory of the Rome Statute which created the ICC but, in 2019, the country withdrew from the treaty upon the orders of then President Duterte.
Meanwhile, Guevarra said: “The OSG represents the state, but we may consider engaging any foreign counsel as and when the need arises.”
“Should the ICC investigation result in the indictment of individual persons, the latter will have to engage their own respective private counsel to defend themselves,” he said.