Marcos: German chancellor asked about ICC probe on war on drugs

BERLIN—German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked about the status of the investigation by the International Criminal Court into the killings linked to the war on drugs of the Duterte administration, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday.

In a news briefing with the Philippine media here, Marcos said he told Scholz about the country's concerns over the ICC's jurisdiction in the Philippines and "why we are not recognizing that jurisdiction."

"Yes, he brought it up in the lunch. And he just basically asked the status of that investigation into the drug war in the previous administration. And I explained to him our concerns over jurisdiction," Marcos said.

"So, I think he just wanted to be informed but I went further beyond just explaining the position of the Philippines in vis-à-vis the ICC," he added.

Marcos said Scholz was informed that the Philippines has "completely changed the concept of the anti-drug campaign."

"The enforcement  can only take you so far and we have taken it as far as we can... Some, we’ve taken it beyond," Marcos said.

"So, kailangan natin tingnan is the prevention and the rehabilitation which is, I think, a different approach," he added.

(We have to look at prevention and rehabilotation which is I think a different approach.)

"And so, we are on a much different approach and he listened to my explanation. I think we’re satisfied with that," Marcos said.

According to deutschland.de, a service of Germany's Federal Foreign Office, the country is one of the ICC’s biggest supporters and is the biggest contributor to the tribunal in The Hague next to Japan.

German's chief negotiator in Rome in 1998, Hans-Peter Kaul was one of the main drivers of the project on behalf of the German government. He later became the first German judge in The Hague. —NB, GMA Integrated News