No investigation of killing drug dealers, says Philippines' Marcos

Robert Besser
05 Aug 2022, 15:18 GMT+10

Amidst plans to resume an investigation into the Philippines' bloody "War on Drugs," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ruled out the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court
The country withdrew from the ICC in 2019, with then-President Rodrigo Duterte accusing it of prejudice by starting a preliminary examination into thousands of killings by police
Marcos told reporters the Philippines has no intention of rejoining the ICC, adding that he met last week with his legal team to discuss a resumption of the ICC investigation

Manila, Philippines: Amidst plans to resume an investigation into the Philippines' bloody "War on Drugs," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ruled out the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The country withdrew from the ICC in 2019, with then-President Rodrigo Duterte accusing it of prejudice by starting a preliminary examination into thousands of killings by police.

Marcos told reporters the Philippines has no intention of rejoining the ICC, adding that he met last week with his legal team to discuss a resumption of the ICC investigation.

In November, the Hague-based ICC suspended its probe at the request of the Philippines, which said it was implementing its own investigations and prosecutions.

According to the ICC rules, it has jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed while a country was a member, but only if its criminal justice system is unable or unwilling to do so itself.

Marcos previously indicated he would not support an ICC probe into alleged atrocities under Duterte, whose influential daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, was his running mate and is currently vice president.

Duterte won the country's election in 2016, promising to eradicate crime and kill thousands of drug dealers, which he followed through with a bloody campaign that saw the police officially killing 6,252 people, all allegedly in self-defense.

However, thousands of mysterious street killings were not included in the official tally, and activists accuse the police of executing drug pushers and users on a massive scale, which Duterte's government denied.