Does President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. want the Philippines to return to the fold of the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
This is what Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla wants to find out amidst calls from lawmakers to allow the ICC to investigate the alleged abuses, including killings, that took place during the illegal drugs operations of then President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
During a press briefing, Remulla said he will meet with Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin on the issue.
“I intend to seek out the Executive Secretary tomorrow (Nov. 24) just be able to make sure that we are on the same page on this matter,” Remulla disclosed.
“Siyempre humihingi tayo ng instruction sa Executive Secretary (Of course we want to get instructions from the Executive Secretary),” he said.
During the meeting, Remulla said “ika-clarify lang kung may balak ba tayong maging miyembro muli ng ICC dahil sa ginagawa ng kongreso (I want to clarify if we want to become a member anew of the ICC because of what Congress is doing).”
“Ang resolution ng House kasi tells us to work with the ICC (The House resolution tells us to work with the ICC),” he said.
But Remulla pointed out that the House resolution raises more questions since the Philippines is no longer a member of ICC since 2019.
“So are we going to be members of the ICC first for these things to happen”” asked Remulla.
Last July 18, the ICC Appeals Chamber issued a ruling which denied the Philippines' appeal that opposed the order to have the ICC prosecutor resume its investigation of the drugs war.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), which filed the appeal, had pointed out, among its arguments, that the Philippines already withdrew as a state party of the Rome Statute that created the ICC and this took effect in 2019 long before the ICC prosecutor ordered an investigation in the drugs war.