President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. delivers his inaugural address at the National Museum in Manila on June 30, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — Palace press officer Claire Castro on Tuesday agreed that it is now time to discuss whether the Philippines should rejoin the International Criminal Court.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has maintained that his administration does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and that it would not cooperate with any of its investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.

However, Marcos in recent months has softened his stance on the ICC's jurisdiction over the Philippines in relation to its drug war probe as his alliance with Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, crumbled.

When asked whether Marcos would change his view on the ICC, she said: "As of the moment we will try to discuss that."

ICC AND PHILIPPINES

Duterte in 2018 withdrew the Philippines' membership from the ICC shortly after former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she was opening a preliminary examination on the human rights situation in the Philippines. The withdrawal officially took effect in 2019.

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The ICC however said that it retained jurisdiction over the alleged crimes that happened before the Philippines withdrew from the international tribunal.

Duterte is now detained at the ICC detention facility in Scheveningen in the Netherlands after the police arrested him at the airport over an ICC warrant coursed through the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol.

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The Marcos administration ferried Duterte to the Hague-based tribunal to face charges of crimes of humanity of murder connected to thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs during his presidency and Davao Death Squad in Davao City where he served as mayor. 

He seeks to return to his old job as mayor in Davao in the upcoming polls and still considered by the election body as a candidate despite his arrest.

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Marcos cited the country's obligations to the Interpol when his administration decided to allow the ICC-issued warrant to be served to Duterte. 

The ICC, which does not have police powers itself, has a longstanding agreement with the Interpol regarding the exchange of police information and criminal analysis as well as cooperation in the search for fugitives and suspects.

EXPLAINER: How does the International Criminal Court work?

The ICC, created by the Rome Statute, investigates and prosecutes four core crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.

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Castro said there is a need to discuss the Philippines' potential return to the tribunal because the crimes "really happen not just now, maybe it will happen in the future."

She added: "There are times that we really need some kind of justice from an international criminal court because it's so sad to say, but sometimes it really happen that justice in the country is kind of questionable, sometimes. But I have to believe in justice system because I'm a lawyer, I have to fight for that."

Castro's statement comes as human rights groups and some lawmakers urged the Marcos administration to rejoin the ICC.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde told Teleradyo Serbisyo last week that bringing back the nation to the ICC was the only "logical move" for Marcos.

"Kung magiging consistent lang ang administrasyong Marcos tungkol dito na nakita nila 'yung value ng ICC at i-improve 'yung human rights situation sa bansa, wala talaga silang choice kundi ibalik ang Pilipinas sa International Criminal Court," he said.

(If the Marcos administration would be consistent that they see ICC's value and they want to improve the human rights situation in the country, they have no choice but to rejoin the International Criminal Court.)

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Meanwhile, Castro said the Office of the Solicitor General's decision to recuse itself from defending the government in the petitions filed before the Supreme Court on Duterte's arrest does not weaken the position of the Marcos government in relation to its cooperation with the Interpol. 

"If that is the stance of the SolGen that he could not effectively represent [the government], then it's up to him," she said. 

"But definitely he never said that the administration did something wrong when they cooperated with the Interpol."     

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The solicitor general is the legal defender of the government and its officers in any litigation, proceeding, or investigation.

Asked who would instead represent the government, Castro said, "We will just ask the president and the executive secretary about that." 

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