De Lima to President Duterte admin: ICC Prosecutor's Office cannot be deluded

Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday said that President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials should bear in mind that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s Office “is not and cannot be deluded.”

De Lima made the remark after ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested a pre-trial chamber to authorize the resumption of the investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s illegal drugs campaign.

“[Khan] is sharp and incisive enough to note that the purported Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation manifestly falls short of the ICC’s standards and expectations,” the Senator said in a statement.

“Not only does said probe cover a minuscule fraction – only 52 – of the thousands of suspected EJK cases and involving only ‘low-level’ perpetrators, there is also no showing that the very role or conduct of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and government leadership is being seriously looked into,” she added.

In a 53-page resolution, Khan on Friday said the Philippine government had not demonstrated that it investigated or was investigating its nationals or others in connection with the series of killings attributed to the anti-drug campaign.

In September 2021, the ICC opened the investigation on the request of then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to probe crimes allegedly committed in Philippine territory between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the so-called war on drugs.

But two months later, in November, the ICC suspended the probe at the request of the Philippine government as the Department of Justice conducted its investigation of several cases.

Duterte had insisted that he would only face a Philippine court and if he should be imprisoned for the killings, it should be in the country's jails.

Malacañang also said it would be difficult for the ICC to “uncover the truth” as it insisted that the Philippine government would not cooperate in the investigation owing to the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019.

Welcomed

Meanwhile, De Lima commended the decision of the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to seek a reopening of the preliminary investigation on the alleged killings and other rights abuses that were committed under the Duterte administration.

She noted that the present government, including the DOJ, had not conducted “any meaningful investigation” into the alleged extrajudicial killings.

“I welcome with great relief and optimism the decision of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC to request the latter to lift the suspension on the preliminary investigation of the Philippine situation,” De Lima said.

“The OTP has seen through the ruse that the so-called DOJ investigation is, calling it a mere desk investigation that has not amounted to anything substantial to unearth the principals behind the Duterte government’s EJK policy,” she continued.

The detained Senator further emphasized that ICC’s consistent investigative policy was to focus "on persons bearing the greatest responsibility" for the alleged crimes.

“And such a tack is not at all mirrored in the DOJ’s investigation as it has clearly spared the top perpetrators,” she added.

Likewise, De Lima welcomed the statement of the incoming National Security Adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos who said that the government should allow the ICC to proceed with its investigations.

“The adoption of Dr. Carlos’ position by the next administration will only demonstrate to the world that the incoming Philippine government will value human rights more than its predecessor. As she said: ‘human rights is primary’ and that ‘the first protection is the protection of the individual,’” she stressed. — DVM, GMA News