MANILA – The government will not prevent former President Rodrigo Duterte if he wants to surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin made the remark after Duterte dared the ICC to come to the country and investigate him over his bloody war on drugs campaign.
“If the former President desires to surrender himself to the jurisdiction of the ICC, the government will neither object to it nor move to block the fulfillment of his desire,” said Bersamin.
Bersamin added that, should the ICC refer the process to the International Criminal Police Organization’s (Interpol), the government “will feel obliged” to cooperate should the anti-crime organization issue a red notice to Philippine authorities.
A red notice is a “request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” according to the Interpol.
“[T]he government will feel obliged to consider the red notice as a request to be honored, in which case the domestic law enforcement agencies shall be bound to accord full cooperation to the Interpol pursuant to established protocols,” Bersamin said.
The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019 after The Hague-based tribunal began a probe into the Duterte administration’s drug war.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has stood firm that he has no plans to return to ICC and will not recognize their jurisdiction in the Philippines.
The Chief Executive also previously said that his administration will not serve any arrest warrant from the ICC against Duterte.
Meanwhile, despite earlier challenging the ICC to speed up their investigation against him, former President Duterte stated that he will not allow a foreign court to try him.
“It’s a silly court. Walang ginawa ‘yan, wala namang nakulong, basta puro demanda lang,” the former chief executive said during the House of Representatives Quad Committee hearing on late Wednesday night.
“Hindi ako bilib sa puti. I would rather face a Filipino. Maski wala akong abogado, ako lang, and he can sentence me to death or reclusion perpetua,” he added. “I will not allow a foreigner to judge me for the things I had to do during my time as president of the republic.”/PN
