PBBM open to talks on PH’s possible return to ICC

By Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine News Agency

International Criminal Court (Photo By Choinowski/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is open to discussions on the possibility of the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC), a Palace official said Thursday amid renewed international calls for accountability over past human rights violations.

In a report on the Philippines to the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council slated from June to July, Special Rapporteur Irene Khan urged the country to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and restore its past ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

“Ang suggestion ng UN rapporteur, ito po ay magandang suhestiyon. Ito po ay pag-aaralan po kung ito ay talaga dapat pa ring sumapi at mag-join sa ICC, i-ratify yung ibang international human rights law (The UN rapporteur’s suggestion is a good one. It will be studied to determine whether the country should rejoin the ICC and ratify other international human rights laws),” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Ito’y pag-aaralang mabuti ng ating Pangulo (The President will study this carefully). Open po siya, noong huli kaming nag-usap. Noon pa natin ito napag-usapan, sinabi po niya na open siya (He is open to it.

The last time we spoke, we already discussed this and he said he was open).”

Former President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in March 2019, after the tribunal investigated his bloody anti-narcotics campaign.

Despite the withdrawal, the ICC has maintained jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the country was still a member.

Duterte is currently detained at the ICC in The Hague, The Netherlands, awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

Castro also underscored what she described as growing international recognition of the Marcos administration’s efforts to improve the country’s human rights record.

“Ikinasisiya po natin at napapansin internationally ang ginagawa ng Pangulo at pamahalaan para paigtingin ang karapatang pantao at para maaksyunan at pigilan ang mga enforced disappearances at extrajudicial killings na nagaganap noong nakaraang administrasyon (We are pleased that the efforts of the President and the government to strengthen human rights and act on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings from the previous administration are being recognized internationally),” she said.