The Philippines will not return to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Malacañang reiterated after President Marcos was urged to submit to the ICC the sworn statements of retired police Col. Royina Garma and self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa on drug-related extra judicial killings.
"The Philippines will not return to ICC," Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said on Monday, Oct. 14, when sought for reaction on the recent call made by lawyers.
"Based on this, the President is not expected to change his mind and not refer the quadcom (quad committee) matter to the ICC," Bersamin added.
In a statement, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and an ICC-accredited assistant to counsel Atty. Kristina Conti said "Garma's testimony establishes a pattern in the killings, and fingers the 'most responsible' behind all the incidents," adding that "her statement ties up why all those senseless killings on the ground happened, and on another hand, why policemen are complicit and willful participants."
"We urge President Marcos to submit the quadcomm investigation materials to the ICC for inclusion in the prosecution's case build-up on crimes against humanity committed in the Philippines," Conti said.
Human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares also made the same call to the President, stressing that the testimonies during the quad committee hearing have a "systematic pattern" of human rights abuses that cannot be ignored.
“President Marcos Jr. must act decisively to demonstrate that his administration does not enable impunity by protecting those responsible for these heinous crimes,” Colmenares said.