Malacañang lambasted the move of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue preliminary examination to the complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte despite their position that the Philippines never became part of its jurisdiction.
Yesterday, ICC confirmed the ongoing preliminary examination on the complaint of alleged crimes against humanity against President Duterte.
Last August 28, 2018, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) represented activists and families of eight alleged victims of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war in filing a 50-page complaint before the ICC.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said, “even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that the Rome Statute became enforceable in the Philippines, the ICC can still no longer exercise its powers over the country as, in such hypothetical case, our withdrawal already became effective last month.”
Panelo pointed out that wit the move of ICC, it becomes apparent that this institution is “indeed bent on interfering with the sovereignty of our Republic even if it means disregarding the Rome Statute, the very instrument which created it.”
