Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has called out Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra for allegedly contradicting the policy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the country’s relationship with the International Criminal Court, which is investigating him and former President Rodrigo Duterte over the killings wrought by the drug war.
In a privilege speech, the former national police chief said the two senior government officials’ recent statements ran counter to the President’s repeated statements that the ICC lost its jurisdiction over the Philippines when the latter officially withdrew its membership from the tribunal in 2019, at Duterte’s behest.
The senator is alarmed because on August 1, Remulla said the Department of Justice would not interfere should the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) arrest those named in the complaint filed by drug war victims with the ICC. Dela Rosa, Duterte, and several police officials are among the respondents in the case.
Guevarra had also told media that the government “cannot stop” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan from visiting the country to investigate Duterte’s bloody war on drugs which claimed the lives of thousands, mostly poor drug suspects.
According to Dela Rosa, the statements of those officials were “dangerous” as these would send a message to the public that the DOJ “cannot protect the rule of law.” He also asked his fellow senators if they were willing to enact a law that would prohibit any state agency from cooperating with the ICC.
It is quite ironic that those named in the ICC complaint filed by victims of the brutal and bloody drug war that resulted in the death of thousands, during a time when our government failed to provide its most vulnerable with the benefit of a proper justice system, are now the ones invoking the rule of law to protect them. After all, if they have nothing to hide, then they shouldn’t be afraid of any investigation, right?
In fairness to those complaining regarding the ambiguity of the country’s stand when it comes to the ICC, perhaps it is time that our government came up with a stand and a roadmap on whether or not it intends to renew its relationship with the International Criminal Court, an organization where majority of Filipinos who are not involved in criminal activities shouldn’t have any problems with.*
