The International Criminal Court (ICC) is not for the pursuit of justice, but about controlling their member-states, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said.
The national police chief-turned-lawmaker issued the remark after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla recently stated that the Philippine government will talk to the ICC soon and discuss certain areas of cooperation on the ongoing investigation on the Duterte administration’s drug war.
For Dela Rosa, this is very evident in ICC’s insistence to conduct the investigation despite the Philippines’ withdrawal of membership from the international tribunal.
“Go ahead kung anong gusto nila. Hindi namin sila maco-control…Kung i-engage nila, sige lang, go ahead, basta ako, very solid ‘yung aking paniniwala na walang jurisdiction ang ICC sa ating bansa,” the Mindanaoan lawmaker said.
“Pumasok kayo dito, ICC. We will go to the Supreme Court, we will seek judicial relief kung talaga bang may jurisdiction ang ICC dito,” he added.
Dela Rosa maintained that he won’t entertain any calls from the ICC as this is tantamount to acknowledging their jurisdiction over the Philippines.
He noted the dissenting opinion of the two ICC Appeals Chamber judges that the request for authorization of an investigation was filed when the Philippines was no longer a party to the Rome Statute—a treaty which created the ICC.
“Very clear ‘yan na ‘yung kanilang ginawa na paghingi nila ng permiso, ‘yung prosecutor, paghingi nila ng permiso sa court na mag-conduct ng investigation, effective na ang ating withdrawal sa membership. So very clear, wala silang jurisdiction,” Dela Rosa said.
The senator maintained that he won’t entertain any calls from the ICC as this is tantamount to acknowledging their jurisdiction over the Philippines.
“Umalis kayo! Wala kayong pakialam dito sa amin. Leave us alone. We can do our job here,” he said.
Dela Rosa is being implicated in the ICC investigation into Duterte’s drug war as he served as the chief of the Philippine National Police during the last administration.
Despite criticisms against the drug war, the former PNP chief stressed that the anti-narcotics campaign was a success as 1.6 million drug users had surrendered and around 300,000 individuals were arrested.
“Ang daming tao na nagsasabi na nagpapasalamat sa war on drugs dahil safe na ‘yung kanilang environment. So, for us, it’s a great success,” Dela Rosa said.
