With Rodrigo Duterte arrested, some lawmakers believe it’s time to rejoin ICC

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One Marcos administration-allied congressman says the Philippines' withdrawal from the ICC during the Duterte administration was a 'convenient way for them to avoid accountability'

MANILA, Philippines – After former president Rodrigo Duterte‘s arrest on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the tide of opinion within the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on whether the Philippines should rejoin the ICC continues to turn.

The Philippines under the Duterte administration officially left the ICC in 2019, a year after the then-president announced the Philippines’ withdrawal due to its supposed attacks on his leadership, particularly his bloody drug war.

“This is just a personal suggestion. We left unilaterally from the ICC. I think it’s about time we return to the ICC and show the entire world that this country respects domestic and international laws,” Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman said on Tuesday, March 11.

House Assistant Majority Leader Jude Acidre believes the Philippines’ exit from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the international tribunal, during Duterte’s time as president was a “a convenient way for them to avoid accountability.”

“They must have seen this coming. And clearly, our withdrawal from the ICC has made it difficult for those who were pursuing the case at the ICC to make the government or the administration that time cooperate with whatever proceeding was being carried out,” Acidre said on Wednesday, March 12.

Other lawmakers believe a potential return of the Philippines to the ICC would provide a mechanism to hold leaders accountable for the worst crimes.

“We should reconsider rejoining,” House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega said. “In case these kinds of problems happen again, we have a tool or a measuring stick.”

“I totally agree the Philippines should rejoin the ICC, or sign again as a member of the Rome Statute… If the state or the government has failed to conduct a genuine investigation or prosecution of particular crimes…where do we go now? It’s for the protection of the people,” House Assistant Majority Leader Jil Bongalon added.

Roman, Acidre, Ortega, and Bongalon are all members of the House majority, allied with the Marcos administration.

Duterte first threatened to withdraw from the international court in November 2016, just months after he assumed the presidency, after an ICC judge called out his administration for potential human rights violations in connection with his bloody anti-narcotics campaign.

In March 2018, Duterte made good on his statement, nullifying the Philippines’ ratification of the Rome Statute. This was despite the position of more than half of the Senate at the time that the upper chamber should concur first before the executive pulls out of any treaty or international agreement.

The Philippines’ withdrawal formally took effect in March 2019.

When Marcos succeeded Duterte in Malacañang in 2022, he repeated Duterte’s rhetoric that the court was intruding into the country’s internal matters, and that he did not see the point of returning to the ICC.

Some lawmakers, in February 2023, also filed a resolution urging the House to declare its “unequivocal defense” of Duterte against the ICC, although by the end of the year, two House panels have adopted resolutions urging the government to cooperate with the tribunal.

The massive fallout in the alliance between the Marcoses and the Dutertes eventually led to the former president’s arrest on Tuesday morning on Philippine soil. The ICC, which released the arrest warrant, coursed its request through the Interpol, of which the Philippines has been a member since 1956 and must abide by its obligations to.

Duterte’s drug war has killed more than 6,000 drug suspects during police operations, based on official government records, but human rights group estimate that deaths could be as high as 30,000.

– Rappler.com