Remulla: ‘No need’ for Marcos to mention ICC in SONA

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said there was "no need" for President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to mention the International Criminal Court (ICC) during his second State of the Nation Address.

“Well, there’s no need eh. There’s no need,” Remulla said in a media briefing on Tuesday,

In an open court hearing last week, the ICC's Appeals Chamber denied the Philippine government's appeal against the resumption of the investigation into the controversial war on drugs.

Several human rights groups have welcomed the decision and appealed to the government to cooperate.

However, Marcos and Remulla, among other government officials, have maintained that the government will no longer cooperate with the ICC.

Remulla has said that the government is still open to talks with the ICC as long as they do not intervene in the country’s affairs.

By the government's own reckoning, at least 6,200 people were killed in police operations during the Duterte administration. Human rights groups, however, claim the actual death toll could be as high as 30,000.

In a statement, former senator Leila de Lima said that Marcos was "noticeably silent" on the issue in his second SONA.

"[T]the President missed the opportunity in his SONA to lay down a more diplomatic approach to the ICC issue, rather than leave the international community with the impression that insofar as human rights are concerned, his administration would rather not cooperate with international investigative bodies with proven mechanisms of accountability and just leave his Justice Secretary to bully and threaten their advocates and enforcers Duterte-style," she said.

Media killings

Remulla added that Marcos also did not mention press freedom because the government has been "successful" in solving the killings of broadcasters Percy Lapid and Cresenciano "Cris" Bundoquin.

“I think this is the time that the government has been successful in running after the people responsible for these crimes. No such thing as impunity now. Everybody accounts for what they do and I think that is where,” he said.

Lapid was shot dead in Las Piñas City on October 3, 2022. Suspects in his death have pleaded guilty before a Muntinlupa and Las Piñas trial court.

Meanwhile, two of the accused in the case, former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag and his former deputy Ricardo Zulueta, remain at large.

Bundoquin, on the other hand, was shot in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on May 31. A suspect has turned himself over to authorities but denied any role in the incident. — BM, GMA Integrated News