Former Senate President Frank Drilon on Tuesday backed a move for the Philippines to rejoin the International Criminal Court, saying there was no reason to leave the ICC in the first place except to protect then President Duterte from investigation. 

“Unang-una, bakit ba tao umalis? Wala ako masagot diyan except pangamba ni dating pangulong Duterte ay tumakbo ang mga biktima, mga [extrajudicial killings] victims pumunta sa ICC at magsampa ng kaso,” he told TeleRadyo Serbisyo. 

Drilon, who was part of the Senate that signed the Rome Statute, said Malacanang ignored the Senate when it decided to push through with the Philippines’ withdrawal from ICC.

The Supreme Court later junked petitions vs the Philippines’ ICC withdrawal, with then presidential spokesman Harry Roque saying the ICC should not “waste time and resources” in investigating the war on drugs.