MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) has no idea with the rumored September release of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, they have not received any information from the ICC about the arrest warrant against Duterte and other persons involved in his administration’s bloody “war on drugs.”
“We are not aware of that,” Vasquez said in a news forum over the weekend. “None of our government agencies have been informed about anything.”
Vasquez added that the government has taken the position that it will not assist the ICC in its probe into the drug war but will not stop the court from getting in contact with personalities it may want to interview.
“The last action taken by the ICC was to request diplomatic permission from the DFA to conduct interviews, but this was ignored because we are no longer under their jurisdiction,” Vasquez said.
“But, if ICC personnel are coming to or are already in the Philippines, we don’t know and it’s simply none of our business,” he added. “Philippines is a very robust and active democracy where people are free to travel and to seek information.”
Vasquez also mentioned that, despite the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC in 2019, the country still has obligations to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
“And we have to understand Interpol processes – it is not an international police enforcement body. It is one that is composed of the different states whose law enforcement agencies cooperate and coordinate and share information and data with the idea of jointly and effectively combatting transnational crimes – terrorism, terrorism financing, et cetera,” he said.
“Kung sinuman ang aarestuhin, kung aarestuhin man at kung gagawin mang aresto iyan, ayon sa batas natin – iyan po ay aaralin, susuriin nang mainam kasi ang daming nuances po iyan eh. Mayroon din constitutional decision, it’s a decision ng Supreme Court,” he added.
The ICC is investigating Duterte and other top officials of his administration for crimes against humanity over the alleged systematic drug war deaths in police operations. These deaths reached around 6,000 based on police records, but human rights groups contend that the deaths were as much as 30,000, including vigilante killings./PN
