Marcos Jr rejects the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

The Philippine president made the decision after the Hague-based court resumed its investigation. In 2019, Rodrigo Duterte had ignored the legitimacy of the Court to intervene in the case and requested that the international investigation be suspended so that it could be carried out independently, internally.

Manila () – The Philippines will no longer be one of the signatory countries of the Rome Statute. In force since July 2002 and ratified by the Philippine government on August 30, 2011, said treaty recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague.

With the decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., announced today, the door is closed to a rapprochement between the Philippine leaders and the international organization to which 123 countries belong. As a consequence, the task of the court will be complicated when it comes to identifying and eventually punishing, in accordance with international law, the repressive and illegal actions of Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who left office on June 30 of this year.

In the ICC’s crosshairs is the “war on drugs,” the former president’s main campaign promise and, without a doubt, his most recognizable legacy. A war, which, according to the Philippine police, ended with the death of 6,000 drug traffickers and drug addicts.

However, according to information sources and human rights organizations, the number of people killed through extrajudicial executions could reach 12,000, which were also used to annihilate political opponents and activists who had no relation to drug trafficking.

According to Human Rights Watch, the police would be directly responsible for 2,500 homicides. As the deaths occurred in the framework of control or detention operations, the soldiers would enjoy immunity.

In 2019, after the court formalized its investigation into crimes committed during the Duterte administration, the Philippine government chose to no longer recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.

Marcos Jr. made the decision after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced the resumption of the suspended investigation in November 2021 at the request of Manila. At that time the Philippine government had assured that it would proceed independently internally. In announcing that it would no longer recognize international jurisdiction, the Philippine government stressed that the involvement of a foreign body in the country’s internal affairs is useless.

The tug-of-war over jurisdiction promises to continue, as the court’s former chief prosecutor, Gambian Fatou Bensouda, recently pointed out, referring to Duterte’s war on drugs as “crimes against humanity.” It is likely that the court will still decide to investigate the atrocities committed in the Philippines between July 1, 2016 and March 2019, the period from Duterte’s inauguration to the cessation of the Philippines’ recognition of ICC jurisdiction.