Philippines may turn over Duterte to Interpol – Palace

MANILA, Philippines — The government may be obliged to turn over former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Police Organization if the International Criminal Court (ICC) requests assistance from the Interpol, Malacañang said.?

Duterte, whose crackdown on illegal drugs claimed the lives of more than 6,000 suspects, challenged the ICC to “hurry up,” come to the Philippines and start its investigation.

At the House quad committee hearing yesterday, Dutertesaid he was not scared of the ICC, even expressing readiness to face the court if he is given air fare to travel to its headquarters.

Asked to react to Duterte’s statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the government would not prevent the former president from surrendering himself to ICC  jurisdiction. Philippine authorities would also consider cooperating with the Interpol if the ICC seeks the intervention of the global police organization, Bersamin said.

The Marcos administration earlier said the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.

“If the former president desires to surrender himself to the jurisdiction of the ICC, the government will neither object to it nor move to block the fulfillment of his desire,” the executive secretary said in a statement.

“But if the ICC refers the process to Interpol, which may then transmit a red notice to the Philippine authorities, the government will feel obliged to consider the red notice as a request to be honored, in which case the domestic law enforcement agencies shall be bound to accord full cooperation to the Interpol, pursuant to established protocols,” he added.

In previous media interviews, President Marcos said the Philippines won’t cooperate with the ICC on its investigation into Duterte’s drug war, saying the international tribunal has no jurisdiction over the country. He had also described an ICC investigation as a “threat” to Philippine sovereignty.

In 2021, an ICC pre-trial chamber allowed a probe into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, saying the legal element of the crime against humanity of murder under the Rome Statute – the treaty that created the ICC – has been met.

The Philippines ratified the Rome Statute in 2011 but Duterte withdrew the country from the treaty in 2018.

In his earlier statements, Duterte said the ICC has no jurisdiction over him and that he would only face accusations against him before a Philippine court.

Meanwhile, militant groups challenged yesterday Malacañang to cooperate with the ICC amid former president Duterte’s willingness to do so.

Kabataan party-list spokesperson Renee Co said that President Marcos must take advantage of Duterte’s willingness to cooperate with the ICC on its investigation on the extrajudicial killings that allegedly transpired during the Duterte administration.

“The prime suspect is presenting himself to the ICC on a silver platter. There is no sensible reason for the Marcos Jr. administration to drop the ball now and delay victims and their kin from claiming a measure of justice that was long deprived from them,” Co said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the government should cooperate with the ICC and use the testimonies from the House of Representatives quad comm hearing to file charges against Duterte and other officials for the alleged abuses committed in his war on drugs.

“What is clear is that the pursuit of truth and justice did not start and will not end with the quad committee and therefore we continue to assert that the government should cooperate with the ICC,” Bayan secretary general Raymond Palatino said in a statement.

Over 100 members of Bayan and other allied organizations held a protest in front of the Batasang Pambansa complex where Duterte attended the quad comm’s hearing.

The protesters called for Duterte to be put in jail for the alleged atrocities in the implementation of his drug war. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Emmanuel Tupas