PRRD reiterates he won’t be tried in int’l court

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday reiterated his declaration that he will not be tried by an international court for alleged human rights violations linked to his administration’s controversial drug war.

President Rodrigo Duterte made this remark after the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday junked the petition questioning the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2019.

The country severed ties from the ICC after its special prosecutor Fatou Bensouda started a preliminary examination on the alleged human rights violations under the war on drugs.

In its ruling, the SC “acknowledged that the President, as primary architect of foreign policy, is subject to the Constitution and existing statutes.”

Duterte made no mention of the high court’s ruling but criticized the ICC anew for meddling into the country’s affairs.

He again said he would only face trial before a Philippine court.

“Gusto nila ako magharap doon. Ano ako gago? Magharap ako ng korte na ang judge Pilipino. Hindi man ako magharap diyan sa mga animal na ‘yan. Sabi ko (They want me to stand trial there. What am I crazy? I will only stand trial before a Filipino judge. I won’t face those animals. I said), not in a million years,” he said.

Duterte said the ICC only seemed to give importance to the rights of criminals and not their victims.

“Ang binabasa lang nitong mga p*t*ng*n*ng human rights, ang namatay na criminal. Yung pinatay nila, yung ni-rape nila…Yan ang problema sa human rights (Human rights groups only care about the rights of criminals who were killed. What about the victims they killed and raped? That’s the problem with human rights),” he said.

He also warned drug suspects anew that they could either “drop the drugs or drop dead.”

Stop probes

Malacañang asked the ICC at The Hague to cease its investigation on Duterte who is currently facing allegations of crimes against humanity in relation to the drug war.

“We ask the ICC to stop its investigation against the President because its investigation cannot prosper now that the Philippine Supreme Court has recognized the Philippine withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a virtual presser on Thursday.

He also thanked the high court for junking the petition, saying the ICC should not proceed with its investigation because the Philippines no longer recognizes the international body’s jurisdiction.

“The Court’s decision is also proof that domestic legal remedies are working and therefore, because of the principal complementarity, the court should not exercise its jurisdiction,” he added.

Last December, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office released a report saying there was a “reasonable basis” to believe that Duterte and his subordinates committed crimes against humanity in the drug war.

Duterte has repeatedly defended his administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs, saying he was elected precisely to eliminate the narcotics trade as part of his campaign promise.

Not a victim

Duterte, meanwhile, lambasted detained Senator Leila de Lima for allegedly fooling the international community into thinking she is a victim of political persecution.

“She is the only b*tch na napaniwala niya ang mundo na (who convinced the world into thinking) she’s a prisoner of conscience. Kaya binigyan pa ng mga award nitong mga loko-loko na mga Europeans. Kaya ako galit diyan sa mga Europeans (And these crazy Europeans even gave her an award. That’s why I’m mad at Europeans),” he added.

De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City since February 2017.

The government has insisted that de Lima is facing drug-related charges due to her supposed role in the drug proliferation inside the national penitentiary during her stint as justice secretary.