Philippines
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PH won't allow outsiders to dictate drug probe terms --- Marcos
PH won't allow outsiders to dictate drug probe terms --- Marcos
President Marcos said the call for the government to cooperate with the International Criminal Court investigation into the previous administration's drug war was "not unusual" but maintained his stand that "outsiders" should not meddle with the country's own investigation.
Marcos did not see anything unusual with the House resolution that urges his administration to "extend their full cooperation to the ICC Prosecutor with respect to its investigation of any alleged crime within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”
"This is not unusual. It’s really a sense of the House resolution and the sense, they are just expressing or manifesting the sense of the House that perhaps it’s time to allow or to cooperate with the ICC investigations. But as I have always said there are still problems in terms of jurisdiction and sovereignty," he said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Healthway Cancer Care Hospital (HCCH) in Taguig City on Friday, Nov. 24.
The President, however, affirmed that it is "not right" to allow "outsiders" to dictate how the country's law enforcement and justice system must investigate the drug war that claimed thousands of lives during the leadership of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
"Para sa akin simple lang naman 'yang issue na 'yan, e. Hindi naman siguro tama na ang tiga labas, ang mga dayuhan ang magsasabi sa atin kung sino iimbestigahan ng pulis natin, sino ang aarestuhin ng pulis natin, sino ang ikukulong ng pulis natin (For me, this is just a simple a issue. I don't think it is right to allow outsiders, the foreigners to tell our police who to investigate and arrest," Marcos stressed.
"Hindi naman siguro tama yun, dapat Pilipino lang ang gumagawa niyan. May pulis naman tayo, may NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) tayo, may DOJ (Department of Justice) tayo, kaya nila ang trabahong yan (That is not right, Filipinos should be the one doing that. We have our own police, NBI, DOJ, they can handle that task)and that's really where the conflict is," he added.
He pointed out that the jurisdiction of the ICC remains a problem as the Philippines has withdrawn from the Rome Statute.
He said this is also a question whether the Philippines should return to the ICC, saying it is "again under study."
"There is also a question, should we return under the fold of the ICC, so that’s again under study. So we’ll just keep looking at it and see what our options are," he said.
In March this year, Marcos said the Philippines was disengaging with the ICCafter it rejected the country's appeal to suspend the drug war probe.
Marcos stood by his previous pronouncement that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines and its move to investigate the killings related to the massive war on drugs is an "interference" in the country's sovereignty.