A Makabayan bloc lawmaker believes the International Criminal Court is determined to run after former President Rodrigo Duterte after the ICC posted job vacancies for Cebuano and Tagalog translators.
“I won’t be surprised if there could be such hiring of not only translators but also legal staff for the ICC,” Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said.
“They are really interested. It seems they are very much interested since 2021 on the cases of the victims of the war on drugs of Duterte,” she added.
The vacancies were posted on the ICC website (https://www.icc-cpi.int/jobs/vacancies) and both had a deadline of December 31, 2024.
“A roster of freelance field interpreters, consisting of speakers of the relevant situation language, namely Cebuano, will be established as a result of this selection process. Once accredited, freelance field interpreters may be offered service contracts to provide consecutive interpretation services either remotely, at Headquarters or in the field according to the operational needs of the different sections and units of the Court.”
Earlier, President Marcos said his administration does not play politics with jurisdiction and sovereignty as he reiterated his position of not inviting the ICC to investigate his predecessor “more fully.”
Mr. Marcos said this on an Australian television program in response to the query of ABC’s Sarah Ferguson, who said it was “clear from the outside that there’s been some breakdown in the relationship [with Duterte].”
”No. That would be a political move and what we are, we do not play politics with jurisdiction and sovereignty,” Mr. Marcos said.
He said the ICC was “formed to conduct, to provide justice to areas where there is no judiciary” as he highlighted the country’s working police and justice system.
”We have a functioning police force. We have a functioning judiciary, and it is their responsibility to take care of that. We have made a great deal of progress in that regard where many policemen have already been removed from service because they’ve been found to be liable, cases have been filed. Many are already in jail,” he added.
A recent OCTA Research Survey showed at least 59 percent of Filipinos support the Philippines rejoining the ICC, with 55 percent also infavor of investigating allegations of crimes against humanity during the previous administration.
In 2019, the Philippines, under then-President Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal began a probe into his bloody drug war, followed by a formal inquiry in September 2021.
But the Hague-based tribunal said it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the Philippines was a member from November 2011.
Duterte carried out his war on drugs from 2016 to 2022. Under this campaign, law enforcement authorities pursued suspected drug dealers and users, several of whom ended up dead by way of summary executions.