MANILA – Malacañang clarified that the Philippines will only recognize requests from the International Criminal Court (ICC) when it is coursed through the Interpol.
According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC has already been in effect, but they are obliged to respond if the request is made through Interpol.
“If the ICC makes a move and courses the move through the Interpol and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest or delivery of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond,” Bersamin said.
“‘Yung position is wala na tayo sa jurisdiction ng ICC pero that does not necessarily mean that the order of the ICC enforced through the Interpol is to be ignored… I’m not saying ‘yung ICC ang inaano natin, ‘yung Interpol ang pinagbibigyan natin,” he added.
Bersamin made the statement after Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in an interview that the Philippines is signaling a softened stance on the ICC’s investigation into the drug war.
“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,” Remulla said in an interview with Reuters.
“There are certain areas we can cooperate,” he added, stressing that “lines have to be drawn properly.”
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 former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war./PN
