Sara to tell DOJ of position vs. ICC probe of 'war on drugs'

Vice President Sara Duterte will insist to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the Philippines should not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of the killings attributed to the past administration's war on drugs.

Asked if she would push with the position that the government should not cooperate with the ICC, Sara said, "Yes."

"We will continue to reach out to the Department of Justice regarding our position on this matter, and we will lay down the legal bases of our position with the DOJ,” Sara said in a chance interview.

Sara made the remark days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that returning to the fold of the ICC was "under study." She said she respected the position of the President, whom she said was the architect of the country's foreign policy.

“We all should respect the position of the President being the chief architect of foreign policy. ‘Yun lahat ang dapat na position nating lahat [that should be everyone’s position],” Sara said.

Marcos on Friday said “we'll just keep looking at it and see what our options are” regarding the possible return of the Philippines as a member of the ICC. 

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday said the Philippines' possible return to the ICC required “serious” study.

“Di na tayo dapat padalos-dalos,. ‘Yung ating pagkabansa ay magkakabahid ” Remulla told reporters in a media briefing.

(We shouldn’t be impulsive in making decisions because it will affect our country.)

“We have to look up our direction, our image, our identity, seriously. Di tayo pwedeng patalon-talon lang, padalos-dalos. Di porke sinabi ng mga Kongresista sa kanilang mga resolusyon na dapat tayong kumilos sa isang direksyon eh nangangahulugan na ‘yun ang gagan?n natin,” he added.

(We have to look up our direction, our image, our identity, seriously. We shouldn’t be impulsive. We shouldn’t pursue a direction just because lawmakers filed resolutions.)

Manila Representative Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. last week filed a resolution urging the Marcos administration to coordinate with the ICC investigation on the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal's Rome Statute in 2018, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019, after the ICC began a preliminary probe into the crackdown.

Government records showed that at least 6,200 drug suspects have been killed in police operations from June 2016 until November 2021. Several human rights groups, however, claimed the actual death to stand at around 12,000 to 30,000. —NB, GMA Integrated News