PNP won’t enforce any ICC arrest warrant vs. ex-president Duterte

FILE: Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during the 54th Cabinet meeting at the Malacañan Palace on May 30, 2022. ALBERTO ALCAIN/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said it would not enforce any arrest warrant that would be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against former president Rodrigo Duterte amid its investigation into the drug war of the past administration.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo made the remark after Duterte’s legal counsel and former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte received information that he may be arrested “any time”.

Fajardo said the PNP will comply with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive that the Philippine government “will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts.”

“The President and the Department of Justice have already spoken and we support that stand. We also question the jurisdiction of the ICC because we have already withdrawn from it. For all intents and purposes, the ICC has no jurisdiction over us, they could issue a WOA (warrant of arrest) to anyone but its enforcement is another thing,” she said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

Stressing that Marcos’ order on the matter is “very clear”, Fajardo said such an act of the ICC is an “interference in our country’s sovereignty”.

She added that this is applicable not only to Duterte but also to ordinary citizens who may face a case outside the jurisdiction of PNP, noting that the country’s existing laws require certain coordination procedures on these matters.

Earlier, Marcos said the government is keeping an eye on the ICC to make sure that it would “not come into contact with any agency of government.”

The Philippines formally cut ties with the ICC on March 17, 2019.