Philippines will not block ICC interviews in probe into Duterte’s drug war

The Philippines said Tuesday it would not block International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan from interviewing people allegedly involved in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said while the country would not assist, it does not plan to impede the ICC investigation. 

Gueverra’s pronouncement is a different approach from previous statements by the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration regarding the ICC probe against Duterte and other officials. Marcos had previously said the Philippines did not need outside investigators because the country’s justice system works.

The Philippines, under Duterte’s order, withdrew from the ICC in 2019 as the court sought to investigate alleged human rights abuses committed under his anti-illegal drug campaign.

“The Philippines disengaged completely from the ICC in 2019. It has no legal duty to lend any assistance to the ICC prosecutor in conducting his investigation,” Guevarra said in a statement shared with reporters. “But the Philippine government cannot stop him from proceeding any way he wants.

“He can directly interview persons of interest online, through the phone, by email or face to face, subject to the consent of these persons. But the ICC prosecutor cannot expect that the Philippine government will facilitate it for him,” Guevarra said.

Guevarra spoke out after former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch Duterte critic, on July 25 posted on X (formerly Twitter) a document from the ICC prosecutor’s office naming five former and current police officials as “suspects” in the ongoing investigation. 

These included Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who as Duterte’s Philippine National Police (PNP) chief implemented the drug war; Oscar Albayalde, dela Rosa’s successor as national police chief; Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., former chief of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and current acting area commander of Northern Luzon; Edilberto Leonardo, former National Police Commission chief; and Eleazar Mata, former PNP chief intelligence officer.

“The OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] has reasonable grounds to believe that the following retired and serving members of the PNP have committed crimes within the jurisdiction of the OTP,” the order on Trillanes’ post read.

On Tuesday, Guevarra confirmed the veracity of the “confidential” document and added that since it was already posted, he was “forced to explain” to the public. 

“There really was a communication from the ICC prosecutor asking the Philippine government for assistance to facilitate his interview with the five people named in the document,” Guevarra said in an interview with local TV station GMA.

Explaining the ICC process, Guevarra said the prosecutor had to interview the five people before applying for arrest warrants with the ICC pre-trial chamber.

“He has to first show that all paths were investigated – whether incriminating or exonerating. He has to show that all persons concerned will be given the chance to explain their positions.”

Dela Rosa did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request for comment.

In a statement last week after Trillanes posted the ICC document, dela Rosa said it was the same old issue hurled at him.

“What's new? My name [has] always [been] mentioned since 2016. Seems like a broken record that keeps on repeating the same lines,” he told reporters at the time.

Dela Rosa previously admitted that human rights abuses were committed during the drug war, but said Duterte did not order the abuses.

The Philippine government said about 8,000 suspected dealers and addicts had been killed during the anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration. Rights activists, meanwhile, have said the number could be much higher.

While in office from 2016 to 2022, Duterte called on police to kill drug suspects and vowed to protect them if they did so. In 2021, he said he was taking full responsibility for his controversial anti-drug campaign.

‘Sellout’

Harry Roque, a lawyer who served as Duterte’s presidential spokesman, criticized the move of the Marcos administration.

“A sellout of Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction,” Roque told BenarNews on Tuesday.

Asked if the Duterte camp is worried, Roque said, “No. We’re confident that unlike the [Marcos] administration, our courts will uphold the supremacy of the Constitution.” 

He said the Philippines is a sovereign state and that “judicial power rests in the Supreme Court and all inferior courts created by law.”

Ahead of the 2022 election, Marcos formed an alliance with Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte. The two overwhelmingly won election as president and vice president.

Analysts said hostilities between the two political dynasties began as the elder Duterte grew wary that Marcos would hand him over to the ICC even as Marcos repeatedly said that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. 

But in May, the justice department said it was preparing a brief for Marcos in case the international court did issue an arrest warrant against his predecessor as president.

Duterte in January accused Marcos of being a drug addict – a claim Marcos has flatly denied.

For his part, Marcos has claimed that Duterte was a long-time fentanyl user.

The two are also at odds over the direction of Philippine-China relations with Marcos taking a firmer stance than his predecessor against Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea.

Cracks between the two political dynasties have become more evident in recent weeks since Vice President Duterte left Marcos’ cabinet and did not attend his State of the Nation Address earlier this month.