ICC needs gov’t approval to conduct probe in PH — DOJ

Foreign entities such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), which seeks to investigate the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, must first obtain the approval of several government agencies before conducting official activities within the Philippines, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Tuesday.

In a statement, the DOJ said foreign entities must first get the approval of the agency itself, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

It also reiterated that the government has no legal duty to comply with the proceedings of the ICC.

The agency’s remark came after former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he received information that ICC probers arrived in the country in December 2023 and were able to conduct interviews with concerned individuals.

However, the DOJ said that it had yet to receive any official communication or confirmation regarding the ICC’s presence in the country.

“Specifically, the DOJ has not received any advisory from the DFA that the ICC has indeed entered the Philippines, a requirement that would trigger interdepartmental coordination concerning developments that go to the very core of our sovereignty and the primacy of our Constitution and our laws,” it said.

The agency said it was also aware of the ruling of the Supreme Court on the case of Pangilinan v. Cayetano, where the Court said that “withdrawing from the Rome Statute does not discharge a state party from the obligations it has incurred as a member.”

The agency, however, said it considered that portion of the ruling an “obiter dictum.”

It said that the Court’s incidental expression of opinion is not essential to the decision and does not establish precedent.

“Our system works. Hindi namin papabayaan and mga biktima. Ipagtatanggol natin ang karapatan ng bawat Pilipino,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

(Our system works. We will not abandon the victims. We will defend the rights of every Filipino.)

On Tuesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the ICC is a threat to Philippine sovereignty. He also reiterated that he does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction over the country.

"We do not recognize your jurisdiction; therefore, we will not assist in any way, shape, or form, in any investigation that the ICC is doing in the Philippines," he added.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra echoed Marcos’ remark, saying that the country has completely disengaged from the ICC.

“As the President has repeatedly declared, the ICC has lost jurisdiction, and any continuing investigation by the ICC is a threat to the country's sovereignty,” he told reporters.

“The Philippine government will therefore not lend any assistance to the ICC investigation, much less in the enforcement in Philippine territory of any processes issued by the ICC,” he added.

He said that the country’s own institutions are ready to investigate and prosecute those who violated the law in the war on drugs.

The Philippines, under then-President Rodrigo Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019 after the tribunal began a probe into the drug war, followed by a formal inquiry in September 2021.  — VBL, GMA Integrated News