PH ‘not in the business’ of blocking Interpol amid ICC drug probe

“We respect the actions of Interpol 99% of the time.”

This is what Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Thursday when asked about the International Criminal Police Organization’s (Interpol) implementation of a possible arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against those involved in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. 

“Sana’y magcooperate ang Interpol at saka ang ICC. So kapag nagkaroon na ng problema ‘yan, they will bring it through Interpol and we are members of Interpol,” Remulla said in a press briefing.

(The Interpol and ICC are used to working together. So if there is a problem, they will bring it through Interpol and we are members of Interpol.)

“We are not in the business of blocking any movement of the Interpol unless a policy is laid out, which of course will go against our international commitments kaya hindi natin ginagalaw 'yan,” he added.

(We are not in the business of blocking any movement of Interpol unless a policy is laid out, which of course will go against our international commitments so we will not touch that.)

According to Remulla, there will be repercussions for the Philippines should it challenge Interpol.

Despite this, he said the government will still look into the actions it could take.

“We will study the possibilities or the implications of dealing with the Interpol on this matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Remulla confirmed that the Philippine government received a request from the ICC to help it in interviewing “five persons.”

"I can confirm what SolGen (Menardo Guevarra) has said that there is a request," he said.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV previously claimed that Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and four other former ranking officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been tagged as suspects in the ICC investigation.

He posted a supposed redacted copy of an order by the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) on X (formerly Twitter).

Other officials named in the document were former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde,  former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Romeo Caramat Jr., former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, and former PNP Intelligence Officer Eleazar Mata.

When sought for comment on the supposed tagging, Dela Rosa only dismissed Trillanes' post, saying there is nothing new to it.

“My name [has] always [been] mentioned since 2016. Seems like a broken record that keeps on repeating the same lines,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Albayalde said he is ready to face the ICC while Caramat defended Oplan Tokhang saying it was a success during his stint as Bulacan provincial director.

Similar to Guevarra, Remulla also said he could not confirm the contents of the order posted by the former senator.

Remulla also maintained that the Philippines has no obligation to cooperate with the ICC because the country is no longer a member.

“We are not in the business of informing these people that the ICC will talk to them because we are not members of the ICC. We just note such requests as a government,” he said.

Asked if the Philippine government formally denied the ICC’s request to help, Remulla reiterated that the government only took “note” of it.

“We cannot tell them that they do not do what they want to do. We just note the request. But we have no obligation to help because we are not members of the ICC,” he said.

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 his drug war.

Based on government records, around 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration's anti-drug operations. Human rights organizations, however, say that the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related slays.—AOL, GMA Integrated News