The International Criminal Court (ICC) should respect the criminal justice system of the Philippines, Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra said on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
“The ICC should respect our criminal justice system, understand its capability and limitations, and not presumptuously impose upon us time limits and procedures that 'mirror' its own,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra’s statement was issued amidst calls, including those from foreign government officials, for the Philippine government to allow the ICC to conduct an investigation into the killings as a result of the campaign against illegal drugs.
There was a news report stating that some Canadian officials have urged the Philippine government to submit itself to the ICC probe.
Guevarra said the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has “consistently taken the position that the state has the primary duty of investigating and prosecuting crimes committed in its territory.”
“The role of the ICC is merely complementary, and unless there is a clear showing of unwillingness or inability on the part of Philippine government agencies and courts of law to administer justice, the ICC has no reason, much less authority, to take over the investigation in derogation of our status as a sovereign nation,” he stressed.
Last Jan. 26, the ICC announced that the “Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’ or ‘Court’) granted the Prosecutor's request to resume investigation into the Situation of the Republic of the Philippines (‘the Philippines’).”
“Following a careful analysis of the materials provided by the Philippines, the Chamber is not satisfied that the Philippines is undertaking relevant investigations that would warrant a deferral of the Court’s investigations on the basis of the complementarity principle,” the ICC said in its statement.
The ICC also said: “After having examined the submissions and materials of the Philippine Government, and of the ICC Prosecutor, as well as the victim's observations, the Chamber concluded that the various domestic initiatives and proceedings, assessed collectively, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the Court’s investigation.”
Guevarra had assured that the OSG will be take the necessary actions against this move of the ICC.
“It is our intention to exhaust our legal remedies, more particularly elevating the matter to the ICC appeals chamber,” he said.
The Philippines had been a state party since Nov. 1, 2011 of the Rome Statute that created the ICC.
However, the Philippine government deposited on March 17, 2018, upon the instruction of then President Rodrigo R. Duterte, a written notification to the ICC that declared the country’s withdrawal from the Statute.
The Philippines’ withdrawal from the Statute took effect on March 17, 2019.
Earlier, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla had declared he will not welcome the ICC to the Philippines to conduct an investigation.
“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.
TAGS: #ICC #SolGen Guevarra # DOJ Sec. Remulla #Illegal drugs