Marcos won't hand over Duterte to ICC

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Photo from Presidential Communications Office

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said the government will not hand over his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should a warrant for his arrest be issued for his bloody anti-drugs campaign.

Duterte is being probed for supposed crimes against humanity committed to carrying out the war on drugs.

“We don’t recognize the warrant that they will send to us,” Marcos said in an interview during the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) 50th anniversary celebration and presidential forum at the Manila Hotel. “That’s a no.”

The President insisted that the international tribunal has no jurisdiction over the Philippines since the country has a working judiciary system.

“What is the rule about the ICC? When do they adopt jurisdiction? They have jurisdiction in a country when no judicial system is working, is functioning, no police force is functioning. In other words, there probably is war, and none of these issues about war crimes and all of these are being attended to simply because the administration, especially in the judiciary, especially in law enforcement, are not functioning,” he said.

“That is the reason why we are saying we are well within the rules. It is their rule,” the President said.

Marcos’ pronouncements were reiterations yet again that his administration will not cooperate with the ICC because doing so is considered a threat to Philippine sovereignty.

The President had likewise said the country “will not lift a finger” to aid the ICC in its investigation and ordered all national agencies not to communicate with its investigators.

More than 6,000 deaths were attributed to Duterte’s anti-narcotics drive.

The ICC and human rights groups estimate the figure to exceed 30,000.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019 after the Hague-based tribunal started probing allegations of human rights abuses committed during his drug war.

It launched a formal inquiry into Duterte’s crackdown in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor later asked to reopen the inquiry, and pre-trial judges at the court eventually gave the green light in late January 2023 — a decision that Manila appealed shortly afterward and lost.

The drug war has continued under Marcos even though he has pushed for more focus on prevention and rehabilitation.

Marcos repeatedly ruled out rejoining the ICC and insisted that it does not have jurisdiction in the country because there is a functioning judicial system.

Relations between the Marcos and Duterte families have fractured in the past two years.

In recent months, there has been a very public falling out between the families as they begin to shore up their rival support bases and secure key positions ahead of the mid-term elections in 2025 and presidential elections in 2028

Duterte and Marcos have accused each other of drug abuse, while Duterte previously called for his family’s home island of Mindanao to separate from the rest of the country.

Asked to describe his current relationship with the Duterte family, Marcos said, “It’s complicated,” before laughing with the audience.

WITH AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE