MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday said that although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. previously said the Philippines is not returning as a member-state of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the doors are not shut to the possibility.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro issued the statement amid suggestions for the country to rejoin the ICC to avoid complications and confusion in enforcing orders, such as last year’s arrest and turnover of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The issue on the ICC’s jurisdiction resurfaced after the international tribunal confirmed issuing a warrant of arrest for Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa for being an “indirect co-perpetrator” in Duterte’s unforgiving war on drugs.
Dela Rosa was the chief enforcer of the Duterte administration’s ‘Oplan Tokhang’ as the then chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“In the last conversation we had some time ago, he (Marcos) said we will not rejoin. So, if there’s a need to review in the coming days, the President is not closing the door on that,” Castro said in Filipino.
It was Duterte who ordered the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in March 2019, triggered when the ICC launched a preliminary investigation into his administration’s alleged human rights abuses in connection to his bloody drug war.
