MANILA — The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Sunday announced that the Marcos administration had decided to sit out the counterarguments of the International Criminal Court’s prosecutors against the Philippines’ attempt to halt the investigation into drug war killings committed under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Instead, the OSG said that they would wait for the ICC’s ruling.
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra stated that the Philippines is currently waiting for the ICC pre-trial chamber (PTC) to decide whether the investigation will resume or not before the Marcos administration makes its next move. Guevarra noted that there was nothing the government could do to change ICC prosecutor Karim Khan’s mind about investigating the Philippines.
“(Khan) didn’t state anything new and right from the start, his mindset is fixed on resuming the investigation of the Philippine situation that’s why we opted to not reply anymore and simply wait for the resolution of the PTC of the ICC,” Guevarra said in an interview aired over radio station dzBB.
“Why do you have to interfere with our investigations that we are doing? You may not be happy with the results so far, but it doesn’t mean that our judicial and legal system is not functioning. We don’t need you,” he added, addressing ICC prosecutors.
On September 22, ICC prosecutors rejected the Philippine government’s submission to the PTC, which asserted the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the Philippines, the inadmissibility of the drug war under Article 17 of the Rome Statute, and the complementarity principle of international law.
ICC prosecutors, headed by Khan, an international criminal law expert, stated that the Philippines’ petition last September 8, written by the OSG and supported by information provided by the Department of Justice, fell short of presenting strong justifications to halt the investigation into the Philippines.
As the government and its investigating agencies failed to demonstrate “past or ongoing national proceedings that could match” the looming ICC investigation in its Sept. 8 submission, Khan said these arguments are not supported by strong evidence that could boost the ICC’s confidence that the Philippines can resolve the alleged crimes against humanity on its own.
Guevarra reiterated the Marcos administration’s stance on Khan’s skepticism about the government’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation into the drug war killings, stating that the national investigations are ongoing and that more witnesses are being gathered.
