PH won't cooperate with ICC, Palace says

MALACAÑANG on Monday stood firm on its stance that the Philippines will not cooperate in any investigation being conducted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning the previous administration's war on drugs. The country will also not return as a member of the ICC. "The Philippines will not return to ICC. Based on this, the President is not expected to change his mind and now refer the Quad Comm matter to the ICC," Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement, referring to the House quad committee, which is investigating the drug war and related issues. Bersamin was reacting to appeals to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to submit the committee's recent findings — including retired police colonel Royina Garma's recent revelations — to the international tribunal to add to its case build-up on alleged crimes against humanity committed with the blessings of former president Rodrigo Duterte. The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers urged the President to "submit the quadcomm investigation materials to the ICC for inclusion in the prosecution's case build-up on crimes against humanity committed in the Philippines." It said that what Garma revealed in her affidavit "ties up why all those senseless killings on the ground happened, and on another hand, why policemen are complicit and willful participants." Marcos had been adamant that his administration would not participate in any ICC-led probe or would reconsider its decision to withdraw from the Rome statute. "We still stay with our position that the ICC has no jurisdiction in the Philippines. Because we have a working police force, we have a working judiciary, and do not require any assistance in that regard," the President has said.