Here's why Castro thinks there's 'high possibility' ICC will issue arrest warrant vs Duterte

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro believes that there's "high possibility" that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue a warrant of arrest against former president Rodrigo Duterte in connection with his bloody war on drugs. This, after the ICC's headline-grabbing issuance of an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, March 18. "I think that the possibility of [ICC] issuing a warrant of arrest to former president Duterte like that for Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the thousands killed during his bogus drug war is high considering [the] huge amount of incriminating evidence already submitted by the families of extrajudicial killings during his early presidency," Castro said. Castro is part of the Makabayan bloc, which was critical of president Duterte for most of his tenure in Malacañang. The Makabayan solons in the House of Representatives have transitioned to being critics of incumbent leaders President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. "Now there is a chance to stave this off only if and when the Philippine government launches a genuine and credible effort to investigate and charge those responsible for the killings even president Duterte," she said of the possible ICC action. "But with the current situation that only two cases of EJK (extra judicial killings) have been solved and only low ranking policemen were punished, it would be a tall order indeed for the Marcos-Duterte government to convince the ICC that it is serious in serving justice to the thousands killed during Duterte's time," she further said. The ICC issued the arrest warrant against Putin for the alleged war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity taking place amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.