Philippines says it agrees to ICC lawsuits out of 'courtesy' as it is not a member of the court

MADRID, 24 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Justice of the Philippines, Jesús Crispin Remulla, has assured this Wednesday that they comply with the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to deliver information on the controversial policy of the war on drugs by "courtesy", since it is not part of the court since 2019.

"We are doing this as a matter of courtesy to let you know what we are doing about problems that we are supposed to solve on our own," Minister Remulla said.

"The Philippines is no longer part of the ICC," stressed Remulla, who specified that in such a situation that court cannot force them to allow their investigators to enter its territory. "We are currently investigating these crimes," he said, reports the Phil Star newspaper.

"We have an existing justice system that is characterized by our rule of law. If the decision is to withdraw from the ICC, so be it. We will determine the responsibility of people by our own means. We will not stop. We will not stop investigating crimes that occurred in the past," he promised.

The Asian country left the ICC in 2019 after not ratifying the Rome Statute, in the midst of an international campaign against the controversial war on drugs that was started by the then Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte.

However, several judicial experts maintain that the departure of the Philippines from the ICC in 2019 would not affect the jurisdiction of the court since it maintains it over those crimes that were committed when the country was still a member.

The TPI granted September 8 as the deadline to submit reports on the possible excesses that may have been committed during that war on drugs promoted by Duterte, whose government requested a postponement that was not admitted by the chief prosecutor, Kharim Khan, who resumed the investigations in January.

The Philippine government has admitted more than 6,000 deaths as a result of the controversial raids that were part of its anti-drug operations, although human rights organizations agree that the actual figure could be up to four or five times more.