Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday, July 19 said allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the Duterte administration’s brutal drug war is tantamount to admitting that the Philippines is a failed state. “First of all, our justice system is working. Our court system is working and investigating all such crimes that happened in our country…So, I don't see the need for other countries or other races to investigate what is happening in our country,” Gatchalian said in Filipino in an interview on Radio 630. That is why, Gatchalian said he is opposed to the idea of allowing the ICC to come to the Philippines and conduct its probe into the drug killings where thousands of Filipinos were killed. “Because if we agree, it's like we're saying we're a failed state, that our country's system doesn't work, that our court doesn't work and we all agree that our government, our justice system works,” he said. “We are not called a failed state like other countries that are having civil war and chaos. Here, our system is working, so I don't see the point of surrendering, let's give the investigation to another race because it's like we're admitting what we are, we're a failed state,” he stressed. He said the ICC should not be allowed to enter the country considering that the Philippines is a sovereign state. “They need our permission. No other race, or other country, can enter our own jurisdiction and just do whatever they want, because we have our own Constitution, we have our own law. We are a sovereign nation,” he reiterated. The ICC, on Tuesday, rejected the Philippines’ bid to stop the tribunal from investigating the brutal anti-drug campaign of former president Rodrigo Duterte. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a known vocal critic of the Duterte administration’s drug campaign, welcomed the ICC’s move and presssed the Marcos government to cooperate with the tribunal. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has earlier said the Philippines will not cooperate with the probe as the nation has already pulled out of the ICC. Marcos also stressed that the Philippines is a sovereign nation capable of running its own internal affairs and problems.