Brief includes steps in case arrest order issued vs. Rody
The Department of Justice said it is preparing a legal briefer to give President Marcos options in connection with the International Criminal Court, including the possibility of allowing ICC prosecutors into the country as well as the steps to take should arrest warrants be issued against Filipinos, including on former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The department is now preparing a legal briefer for the President which will describe to him the options available in relation to any arrest warrants by the ICC,” Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano said in an interview.
“The briefer will be an objective statement or analysis of the pros and cons of each option because we are aware that the policy of the government not to allow the ICC into the country may change,” he added.
Clavano said the briefer will also include the option to have the Philippines return to the ICC.
“What are the implications of staying out? What are the implications of going back? What are the legal obligations that may arise? The briefer includes everything as well as the arrival of the ICC arrest warrants,” he said.
Pressed for details, Clavano declined to provide more information about the briefer.
“That’s something that will have to be confidential for now because these discussions and legal analysis are only for the eyes of the President until he chooses a direction or he has a decision, then it will have to be kept confidential,” he said.
Clavano said the President gave the directive to the DOJ and the Office of the Solicitor General to craft a legal briefer even before former senator Antonio Trillanes IV disclosed Tuesday the ICC might issue the arrest warrants this June.
A recent OCTA Research Survey showed at least 59 percent of Filipinos support 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.
Government records showed more than 6,000 have been killed in anti-drug operations since June 2016 until May 31, 2022, a month before Duterte’s term ended, but human rights groups estimated the death toll may be as high as 30,000.
“You do not scare me that you will jail me in the International Criminal Court. I will never allow myself to answer these whites,” Duterte said in 2019.
“I will never, never, never answer any question coming from you. It’s bullshit to me. I am only responsible to the Filipino (people). Filipinos will judge… And if you hang me for all what I did, go ahead. It will be my pleasure,” the then President said.