ICC urged to let PH resolve drug war issue
JUSTICE Assistant Secretary and concurrent spokesperson Atty. Mico Clavano on Monday urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to let the Philippine government resolve the drug war issue.
“Independent tayong bansa na may working justice system naman po. Gumagana naman po yung korte natin, gumagana naman po yung prosecution service natin, yung mga law enforcement agencies natin ay gumagalaw po,” he said.
Clavano also pointed out that under the complimentarity principle in international law, the ICC needs to secure first the consent a particular country before it can start an investigation.
“Dahil ito’y isang international court at nakabase lang po iyan sa consent ng isang bansa kung gusto nilang isumite ang kanilang sarili sa isang investigation na ginagawa ng isang international court,” Clavano said.
“So kung walang consent po ang bansa natin.., hindi rin po sila makakapasok,” he continued.
The ICC recently authorized the resumption of its investigation into the unnecessary deaths committed during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
It suspended investigation into the supposed atrocities committed during the campaign against illegal drugs to assess a deferral letter-request from the Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands.
The letter-request, dated November 10, 2021, told the ICC that the Philippine government was investigating the alleged crimes.
The Philippine Justice Department led a panel of several government agencies, including law enforcement units, in reviewing 5,655 anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths to see whether to file charges against the police officers involved.
The DOJ has been granted unprecedented access to PNP’s records of deaths during the government’s war on drugs.
