FORMER presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday said that even if the Philippines rejoins the International Criminal Court, it still would not have the jurisdiction to investigate former President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte over the drug war killings.
Roque said the ICC has no judicial cognizance over the drug war case. This was because the case came under the ICC’s cognizance only in 2022, after the Pre-Trial Chamber authorized a preliminary investigation into the killings, he said.
By this time, the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC had long taken effect, he said.
“Regardless of our membership status, the Court cannot invoke jurisdiction since it was only in 2022 that the former Prosecutor was allowed to proceed with the preliminary investigation. It was two years after the Philippines officially left the ICC,” he said in a statement.
He said the authorized preliminary investigation was different from the prosecutor’s preliminary examination, which started in 2018 when the Philippines was still with the ICC.
The prosecutor’s action was done in her own capacity and the ICC had no direct participation in this, he said, as published on abogado.ph
The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2018 on the orders of then President Rodrigo Duterte, who issued the directive after the tribunal opened its preliminary examination of the complaint against him over the drug war killings. The withdrawal took effect a year later.
Roque also said rejoining the ICC would not pave the way for the probe of the former President because the jurisdiction of the ICC is applied prospectively and not retroactively.
“Without a retroactive effect, the Court cannot open past cases involving our former presidents because it will violate their right to due process,” he said.
“Thus, the ICC cannot subject FPRRD to a probe because the Philippines withdrew from the Statute long before the Court authorized a preliminary investigation,” he added.
He believes that the ICC could only investigate a sitting chief executive or current leaders suspected of committing grave crimes against the international community.
He warned President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who earlier said the idea of rejoining the ICC is under study, to beware of people who might use the ICC issue against the Dutertes.
“I am worried that PBBM might be getting the wrong advice from people out to harass and muzzle FPRRD and VP Sara. I appeal to President to ignore those sowing discord in the UniTeam and dissension between the Marcos and Duterte families,” he said.
