Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla declared on Friday, Jan. 27, that he will not welcome the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the Philippines to conduct an investigation on the killings during the illegal drugs operations.

Remulla held a press conference to respond to reports that the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber 1 (ICC-PTC1) will resume its probe on the killings that took place from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.

The Philippines withdrawal from the ICC took effect on March 17, 2019 after its notification was sent to the international tribunal in 2018 on instructions of then President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“Definitely I do not welcome this move of theirs and I will not welcome them to the Philippines unless they make clear that they will respect us in this regard,” Remulla said.

“I will not stand for any of these antics that will tend to question our sovereignty or our status as a sovereign country. We will not accept that,” he said.

He lamented that he could not understand “why they insist on entering the Philippines in spite of the fact we are no longer members and that the principles here is the issue of complimentarity.”

“Complimentarity means you do not cross each other’s jurisdiction,” he stressed.

“We just realized there are no other signatories in the ICC in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Remulla said.

He explained that the ICC goes “to countries which have no functioning government, no functioning legal system, no functioning dominant military force.”

“I think the world knows that we are a functioning country with a functioning judicial system. This is an irritant that just came in,” he said.

Remulla said he will be conferring with Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra on what actions the Philippine government will take.

“I will speak to the solicitor general about the course of action that we will take as a country here,” he said.

Also, Remulla said he has yet to speak with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. about the issue.

On the other hand, Remulla assured that the country is “not closing the doors to dialogue.”

“We should open a dialogue again with them but we will not accept impositions on our country,” he said.

He pointed out that “as a country, we are doing what it takes to fix the system.”

“Remember they are talking about problems that cropped up 12 years ago. We were not even in this office yet and expect us within seven months to answer every question they have. Is that reasonable?” Remulla argued.

He reminded: “Sometimes it takes years to be able to gather evidence. It takes a lot of patience to be on the job, running after facts that will come in probably a few months, sometimes a few years after, sometimes decades. But we do not forget these things that happened. it’s part of our legal history and we will not forget it. We’re not forgetting our responsibilities under the law and to the world community,” he stated.

Earlier, Solicitor General Guevarra said the Philippine government intends to appeal the ICC decision on the re-opening of the investigation.

Guevarra said that while the Philippine government has not received an official copy of the ICC ruling, “it is our intention to exhaust our legal remedies, more particularly elevating the matter to the ICC appeals chamber.”

“We wish to emphasize that our own domestic investigative and judicial processes should take precedence, and we can show that despite structural and resource limitations in our legal system, it is still a well-functioning system that yields positive results in its own time,” he pointed out.

TAGS: #Sec. Remulla #DOJ #ICC #SolGen Guevarra #Illegal Drugs