Marcos on ICC's rejection of PH appeal on drug war probe: We are disengaging, no next move
There is nothing more that the Philippines can do but to disengage after the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected the country's appeal to suspend the drug war probe.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. stated this when sought for a comment on the ICC's decision on the sideline of the Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman’s Report on Tuesday, March 28.
"We don't have a next move. That is the extent of our involvement with the ICC. That ends all our involvement with the ICC," Marcos said.
The government has submitted two requests in February and March to suspend the probe after ICC authorized its prosecutor, Karim Khan, to investigate the Philippine situation "in relation to crimes committed" during the Duterte administration's anti-illegal drugs operations.
The President said the country can no longer appeal as it failed in its two previous requests.
"The appeal has failed and in our view, there is nothing more that we can do and the government. So at this point, we, essentially, are disengaging from any contact, from any communication, I guess, with the ICC," he said.
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.
"We ended up in the same position that we started with and that is we cannot cooperate with the ICC considering the very serious question about their jurisdiction and about what we consider to be interference and practically attacks on the sovereignty of the republic," he said.
The Chief Executive stressed that the country "no longer has any recourse when it comes to the ICC."
"We have not been involved with the actual action. Merely as a comment, we would comment and the appeal is part of a comment but we have not appeared as a party in the ICC because we do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and so that is again, as I've said we have ended up now at the end where we really started," he said.
With the denial of the country's requests, the ICC may freely conduct their probe.
[READ MORE: ICC rejects PH appeal to suspend probe into war on drugs](https://mb.com.ph/2023/3/28/icc-rejects-ph-appeal-to-suspend-probe-into-war-on-drugs)