We have 'never spoken' to ICC — SOJ Remulla

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday categorically stated that the Philippine government has never spoken to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant for former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Remulla made the remark during the Senate investigation into the arrest of Duterte, who has appeared at the ICC's pre-trial in The Hague, Netherlands for charges of murder as a crime against humanity following his arrest in Manila.

"We are not members of the ICC. So whatever relationship with the ICC is on an arms-length basis if we have to talk to them but we have never spoken to them," Remulla said.

"We're very transparent about what to do and we have never had any contact with the ICC," he added.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año also told the committee under oath that they neither cooperated nor assisted the ICC’s investigation that led to Duterte’s arrest. 

In the same hearing, the Cabinet officials and Philippine National Police chief Police Gen. Rommel Marbil said that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the Philippines. 

Their answers prompted Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada to ask, "Why did we surrender a Filipino Citizen before the ICC?”

Remulla said that the Philippine government did not surrender Duterte to the ICC as a state, but it only adhered to International Humanitarian Law. 

“As non-members of the ICC and as a state, the ICC has no jurisdiction over us as a country, but over the individuals who may have committed crimes that violate International Humanitarian Law,” Remulla said. 

“That is a universal value being held by the whole world today. That people cannot cross borders and hide behind boundaries so that they can run away from the law. International Humanitarian law is something adopted— the principles are adopted by more than 150 countries around the world,” he added.

Remulla also cited Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.

“The International Humanitarian Law is the domestic law that we follow in recognizing the warrant of arrest issued against Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Remulla said. 

Senator Imee Marcos, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations replied, "I don’t believe that you’re in agreement with your President (Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.).”

“As a matter of fact, the ICC does not try countries after all,” she said. 

Last January, Reuters reported that the Philippines has signaled a softened stance towards an ICC investigation into the Duterte administration's drug war.

In an interview, Remulla told Reuters: "We will talk to them soon in a very well-defined manner, in the spirit of comity. Some people are trying to bridge the divide to bring us together, so we can sit at one table."

"There are certain areas we can cooperate," he told Reuters, stressing that "lines have to be drawn properly."

Remulla was also quoted as saying that cooperation with an international tribunal remains permissible under Philippine law.

During Duterte’s term in 2019, the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute or the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal started a probe into his drug war.

According to the arrest warrant, the ICC pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe he was "individually responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder" in connection with the killings blamed on his war on drugs.

It stated that the Duterte Death Squad (DDS) and Philippine law enforcement personnel under his leadership targeted persons allegedly involved in drug-related criminal activities.

Government records show that there were at least 6,200 drug suspects killed in police operations from June 2016 to November 2021, but several human rights groups have refuted this and say that the number may have reached as much as 30,000 due to unreported related killings. — VDV/NB, GMA Integrated News