THE Philippines is “disengaging” from any contact and communication with the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it rejected the country’s request to suspend its ongoing investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Tuesday.

Marcos made this remark after the ICC Appeals Chamber, in a decision dated March 27, denied the Philippines’ plea “in the absence of persuasive reasons in support of ordering suspensive effect.”

“At this point, we essentially are disengaging from any contact, from any communication I guess with the ICC…We ended up with the same position that we started with and that is we cannot cooperate with the ICC,” he told reporters in a media interview during an event at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

He said the ICC decision to reject the country’s plea ends the Philippines’ involvement with the Hague-based international court.

“We don’t have a next move. That is the extent of our involvement with the ICC. That ends all our involvement with the ICC because hindi na tayo pwedeng mag-appeal (we can no longer appeal),” he said.

“The appeal has failed. And there’s – in our view, there is nothing more that we can do in the government,” he added.

He said the Philippines “no longer” has any recourse when it comes to the ICC.

“We have not been involved with the actual action. Merely as a comment, we would comment, and the appeal is part of a comment. But we have not appeared as a party in the ICC because we do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. And so that is again, as I said, we have ended up now at the end where we really started,” he said.

He likewise cited “serious questions” about the ICC’s jurisdiction, saying he considered it to be “interference” and “practically attacks on the sovereignty.”

To recall, the Philippine government submitted two requests — a notice of appeal in February and an appeal brief in March — to suspend the probe after ICC authorized its prosecutor, Karim Khan, to investigate alleged crimes committed during the Duterte administration’s anti-narcotics campaign.

In March 2018, Duterte ordered the Philippines’ termination of the Rome Statute that created the ICC after former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda continued with the preliminary examination.

The Philippines formally cut ties with the ICC on March 17, 2019, exactly a year after the revocation of the Rome Statute.

In September 2021, the ICC launched a formal inquiry into the drug war but suspended its move two months after the Philippine government vowed to re-examine the cases of drug operations.

In June 2022, the ICC prosecutor requested to reopen the inquiry as it was “not satisfied” with what the Philippines was doing.

JURISDICTION

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra yesterday clarified that while the International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected the government’s request to suspend the probe into the drug war, the appeal itself is still pending.

Guevarra said the ICC has yet to decide on the appeal regarding the lack of jurisdiction, which the Philippines argued due to its withdrawal from the tribunal in 2019.

“While we are saddened by this latest development, the decision of the ICC pre-trial chamber authorizing the ICC prosecutor to proceed with his investigation is still on appeal with the appeals chamber. We do not know when this appeal will be resolved; maybe in a few months, maybe it will take years,” Guevarra said in a message.

In the appeal, Guevarra reiterated the country’s position that the ICC lacked jurisdiction since the Philippines withdrew from the tribunal in 2019.

Guevarra argued that the resumption of the investigation would defeat its purpose and create an irreversible situation that could not be corrected.

He also pointed out the requirements that must be met before the ICC can proceed with the investigation, stating that there must be a state or government referral of cases.

“The ICC appeals chamber has denied our reasonable request to suspend the investigation until the issues of jurisdiction and admissibility of the Philippine situation have been resolved to our satisfaction,” Guevarra said. Philippine News Agency and Hector Lawas