MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday rejected claims by Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte that the Marcos administration is weaponizing the International Criminal Court (ICC) against its political opponents.
Duterte made the remarks following unconfirmed reports that arrest warrants had already been issued against Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go and two former police officials.
“First of all, we know that the ICC is a court, and there is a case before it. It is a case filed by our fellow Filipinos concerning the alleged abuses related to extrajudicial killings,” said Palace Press Officer Claire Castro in Filipino in a video statement from Kazan, Russia.
“And if they do issue a valid warrant of arrest, it would still be valid, and they simply want those who are responsible to be held accountable. So why do we always blame the court? Why do we blame the administration? Let us not forget that this case was filed in 2017. So this is not being weaponized; what is needed is to address the appeals and requests of our fellow citizens,” she added.
Castro also noted that there is an existing law that allows the Philippines to surrender respondents to an international court.
She was referring to Republic Act No. 9851, or the “Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity,” which defines and penalizes crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity.
In his social media post on Wednesday, Rep. Duterte alleged that almost all government agencies have been used by the administration to go after its rivals.
“Will this administration never stop using the ICC as a political weapon against its opponents?,” he said.
Duterte also said, “Wala na ba talaga kayong awa o hiya sa pinag gagawa ninyu? Huwag gamitin ang mga ahensya ng gobyerno sa pag supil at pagpapa tahimik sa mga kalaban sa pulitika para lang mapagtakpan ang mas malaking issue ng pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan.”
“Do you really have no shame or compassion for what you are doing? Do not use government agencies to suppress and silence political opponents just to cover up the much bigger issue of stealing from government funds,” he added. /gsg
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