The administration does not play politics with jurisdiction and sovereignty, President Marcos said Wednesday, as he reiterated his position of not inviting the International Criminal Court to investigate his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, “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.”
”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.”
“Where there is no court system, where there is no police, where there is no peace and order—and that’s not the Philippines,” the President said.
“Therefore, I don’t think that their investigations or their concerns apply to the Philippines,” he added.
Mr. Marcos said the Philippines has a 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,” Marcos said.
”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.
Duterte earlier backtracked on his statements against President Marcos as well as in his push for the secession of Mindanao.
After challenging Marcos to take a drug test, Duterte denied accusing his successor of using illegal drugs.
“I did not say that. Even if you kill me a thousand times, I did not say that he is a drug addict. Make it ‘taking a drug’… Antibiotic, aspirin—they’re all drugs,” Duterte said.
Duterte also toned down with his proposal for Mindanao to secede from the Philippines, saying he does not want the country to be “dismembered.”
A recent OCTA Research Survey showed at least 59 percent of Filipinossupport the Philippines rejoining the ICC, with 55 percent also in favor 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.