DOJ: VP Sara's points vs ICC probe very valid

The Department of Justice received Vice President Sara Duterte's letter in which she enumerated her "very valid" arguments against cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC), DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano said Friday.

According to Clavano, the letter was full of legal discussions and arguments on why the ICC, which is seeking to investigate the administration of then President Rodirigo Duterte's war on drugs, should not be allowed to enter the country.

"Just for the record, yung mga arguments po niya ay very valid. Kagaya ng jurisdiction, yung complimentary issues, the mechanisms by which we will hold people accountable. For example, the rules of evidence, hindi naman parehas ang rules of evidence natin dito doon sa rules of evidence ng ICC. Rules on appeals are also different. Dito my double jeopardy po tayo, doon wala naman double jeopardy," the DOJ spokesperson explained during an ambush interview.

Clavano said that these were the types of things and considerations and legal factors that needed to be considered because any Filipino who would have to undergo the rules or the mechanisms here would at least know what they would have to go through.

"Pero kung pumasok ang dayuhan dito at binigay natin sa kanila ‘yung poder na investigate and to undergo a completely different legal regime, ayaw din naman nating ma subject ‘yung kahit sino mang Filipino sa proseso na ‘yun,” he added.

(But if a foreigner comes in and we give them leave to investigate and to undergo a completely different legal regime, we don’t want to subject any Filipino to that kind of process.)

“Ipapasok natin ‘yan sa ating considerations sa pag aaral, no, ng ICC and its possible return or possible membership (this will be among our considerations in our study of the possible return to the ICC),” Clavano said.

Amid renewed calls from House lawmakers and Senator Risa Hontiveros on cooperation with the ICC, Vice President Duterte on Monday said that she would insist to the DOJ that the Philippine government should not cooperate with the international body.

Clavano, meanwhile, said he was unaware if Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had spoken with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Marcos previously said that rejoining the ICC was “under study,” even as he maintained that there were "problems" concerning the ICC's jurisdiction in probing the drug war.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal's Rome Statute in 2018, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019, after the ICC began a preliminary probe into the drug war.

Government records showed that at least 6,200 drug suspects were killed in police operations from June 2016 until November 2021. Several human rights groups, however, claimed the death toll was around 12,000 to 30,000. — DVM, GMA Integrated News