1 month ago
27
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
No government plan for Philippines return to ICC
MANILA, Philippines — Although there are no talks yet on the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court, the government is ready to cooperate with the Interpol if the ICC issues arrest warrants for Senators Bong Go and Ronald dela Rosa and former officials named as co-perpetrators in the previous administration’s drug war.
Palace press officer Claire Castro said Philippine law was followed and the government coordinated with the Interpol in the case of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested and brought to The Hague last year over alleged crimes against humanity.
“It happened before and that’s what will happen now,” Castro said at a press briefing when asked if the Philippines would cooperate with the Interpol in case the ICC would order the arrest of the co-perpetrators.
“If a warrant of arrest is issued, it has to be implemented. On whether they would be monitored closely, for now there is no reason to do so because the government has not received any warrant of arrest,” she added.
Late last week, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor named Go, Dela Rosa and six other persons as co-perpetrators of Duterte’s controversial crackdown on drugs, which left more than 6,000 suspects dead. According to the prosecution, the former president and his co-perpetrators “shared a common plan or agreement to neutralize alleged criminals in the Philippines,” including those alleged to be linked with the use, sale and production of narcotics through violent crimes.
Also named as drug war co-perpetrators were former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, the late former Philippine National Police chief Camilo Cascolan, former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, former National Bureau of Investigation chief Dante Gierran, former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Isidro Lapeña and former Davao City police chief Vicente Danao.
The Rome Statute, the treaty that formed the ICC, was ratified by the Philippines in 2011. Seven years later, Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the statute after the ICC announced a plan to probe his drug crackdown.
Asked if the Philippine government is considering rejoining the ICC, Castro replied: “The President has not talked about that. He has not discussed that matter with all of us, none as of the moment.”
In June, Castro said Marcos was “open” to talking about calls for the Philippines to return to the international tribunal.
‘Face your charges’
Castro said the alleged co-perpetrators should not hide from authorities if they did not commit any wrongdoing.
“If you are hiding, what does that mean? Did you commit a crime and are you hiding so you won’t be heard and you can evade liability for what you have done? They do not need to hide if they know they did not commit any wrongdoing. They should face with courage the process,” the Palace press officer said.
In November, then executive secretary Lucas Bersamin said that unlike Duterte, Dela Rosa would not be automatically turned over to the ICC. In an earlier text message, Bersamin, a former chief justice, said the Supreme Court has come out with a new rule on extradition requiring a prior resort to a court before the person subject of extradition may be brought out of the country.
However, Castro said the former executive secretary’s stance does not necessarily reflect that of the administration.
“There are two opinions on that. The DOJ (Department of Justice) has an opinion and former ES (executive secretary) Lucas Bersamin has his opinion. So let us see what view will be followed if a warrant of arrest is issued,” she added.
According to Castro, the Philippines has a law that allows the government to surrender defendants to the ICC. “So, it’s a choice, so it will not be politicized,” she added.
Espinosa, Parojinog killings part of ICC case
Two high-profile killings involving mayors accused of links to drug operations were among the cases included in the crimes against humanity case against former president Duterte at the ICC.
Although most of the cases remain redacted, the latest version of the document containing charges against Duterte now reveals some details of the murders considered in the ongoing proceedings.
Details of Incidents 13 and 14, which are part of the second count, are now available in the lesser redacted version of the document containing charges filed last week.
Incident 13 pertains to the killings of then Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and drug suspect Raul Yap at the Baybay City Provincial Jail on Nov. 5, 2016. Incident 14, meanwhile, details the killings of then Ozamiz City mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and other individuals during a police raid inside his property on July 30, 2017.
Both Espinosa and Parojinog were part of the high-value targets included in the so-called PRRD list.
The separate less redacted version of the pre-confirmation brief, also filed by the ICC prosecutor last week, detailed Duterte’s supposed links to the killings. Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing will begin on Feb. 23.
Aguirre distances self from drug war killings
Now claiming that he will never subscribe to extrajudicial killings, former justice secretary Aguirre on Monday distanced himself from killings committed in relation to the Duterte administration’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs.
Aguirre maintained his innocence and denied any knowledge of the “common plan” cited in the charges.
“This is a completely false accusation,” he told “Storycon” on One News. “They wanted to link the DOJ and me even though I’m completely innocent of this EJK because they wanted to prove that there is a common plan.”
Aguirre was quoted over his statements regarding the drug war, including a 2016 Al Jazeera interview where he said that the program was “to do everything to stop drugs, crimes, and corruption … we will choose to kill these drug lords.”
The former justice secretary, however, now claims that the DOJ prosecutors during his leadership investigated all charges that had been filed over the killings.
“I never subscribe to extrajudicial killing… I could never agree to extrajudicial killing, much more support it,” he said. “If ever extrajudicial killing was used, that should not have happened.”
He also denied involvement in the so-called Davao death squad killings when Duterte was mayor or vice mayor of Davao City.
Aguirre questioned why his role as Duterte’s lawyer was being used in the case. “Why is it that the… instance of lawyering for Duterte be cited as one of my violations?” he asked.
The former justice secretary said he would not hide in case an arrest warrant is issued, but added that he would “resist” any attempt to arrest him by filing legal challenges.
Duterte did not give illegal orders, Go insists
In the Senate, Sen. Bong Go maintained on Monday that former president Duterte never issued illegal orders, dismissing the ICC’s recent identification of him as a “co-perpetrator” in the bloody war on drugs.
Go, who served as the Special Assistant to the President before his election to the Senate, defended the former administration’s drug war.
“I will also never follow an illegal order from anyone,” he added. “The only goal of former President Duterte is to cleanse our nation and fight those who are spreading evil, specially drugs. This is to protect our children.”
In a court document dated Feb. 13, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang named Go, along with Dela Rosa and Aguirre II as key figures who allegedly “shared a common plan or agreement to neutralize alleged criminals” through violent means.
While Go has issued a denial, his fellow co-accused, Dela Rosa, has remained out of the public eye. The former national police chief—who implemented the drug war’s “Oplan Tokhang”—has not been seen since Senate sessions resumed in November 2025, following reports of an imminent arrest.
ICC warrant requires court order – Lacson
Any ICC warrant must first have a corresponding order from a Philippine court before it can be implemented locally, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said yesterday, as he maintained that its enforcement must be anchored on safeguarding constitutional processes.
“To those who criticize my opinion on the need for a corresponding domestic court order before the ICC warrants of arrest against our fellow senators and others may be implemented, let me be clear: what I am protecting is our country’s legal processes as enshrined in Article III Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, not Senators Ronald de la Rosa and Bong Go,” Lacson said in a post on X.
“Despite contrasting legal opinions on the matter, at the proper time, it is only the Supreme Court that will interpret the constitutional provision and legal procedure in this regard,” he added.
“(Thus) it does not matter if the warrant is issued by a foreign jurisdiction where extradition is in effect. Article III Section 2, which deals with protection from deprivation of liberty of our citizens, must be respected,” he said.
“Our local courts must be respected. If there is an arrest warrant from the ICC or a foreign court, it should go through our local court, which will issue a corresponding order to implement the foreign entity’s arrest warrant,” Lacson said over dwIZ. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Evelyn Macairan, Janvic Mateo
