JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Tuesday said that the Philippine government will respond to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) request to comment on an application seeking the resumption of the investigation into the previous administration’s “war on drugs”.

However, Remulla stressed that the move does not necessarily mean that the Philippines acknowledges the ICC’s jurisdiction over former President Duterte’s “bloody” war on drugs.

“Compliance is not the term. We will furnish them the available information as a matter of comity,” Remulla said.

Last December, the ICC announced that it was suspending its 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.

But last month, Prosecutor Karim Khan has asked the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, in a 53-page application, to authorize the resumption of their investigation into the Philippines’ war on drugs that resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths.

In return, the ICC has asked the Philippine government to respond to Khan’s plea before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to resume their investigation into the bloody war on drugs.

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 (Department of Justice) has been granted unprecedented access to PNP’s records of deaths during the government’s war on drugs.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Hector Lawas