Hontiveros laments non-mention of ICC probe in Marcos' SONA 2024

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday lamented the exclusion of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.'s third State of the Nation Address (SONA). 

Hontiveros, who has filed a resolution urging the Marcos administration to cooperate with the ICC probe, said she was hoping that Marcos would mention something about the ICC when he said that killings were not part of his administration's campaign against illegal drugs. 

"'Yung isang big area of silence ni Presidente, sayang, pagkatapos niyang sabihin na extermination was never part of the solution sa problematic drug use, sayang, hindi siya nagsalita tungkol sa ICC," she said in an Unang Balita interview. 

(One of the big areas of silence of the President was when he did not speak about the ICC after he said that extermination was never part of the solution to the problematic drug use.) 

"Kasi 'yung extermination na bahagi ng ginamit ni Duterte sa madugong war on drugs, dapat mapanagot siya para sa mga buhay na kinitil at 'yung pamilya na naulila," she added. 

(Part of Duterte's bloody drug war was the use of extermination. He should be held liable for all the lives lost and for families who lost a loved one.) 

During his third SONA on Monday, Marcos touted his administration's strategy in a "bloodless war" against dangerous drugs, saying that "extermination was never one of them."

In 2023, the ICC resumed its formal investigation into possible crimes against human rights committed amid the anti-illegal drug campaign of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, in 2019 during the Duterte administration, when the tribunal began a preliminary probe into the drug war killings. 

Marcos, however, repeatedly said that he does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction over the country, even saying he considers the ICC as a threat to Philippine sovereignty. 

The President also said his government would not serve any arrest warrant from the ICC against Duterte. —KBK, GMA Integrated News