The OTP asserts that ICC “retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes that have occurred on the territory of the Philippines during the period when it was a State Party to the Statute, namely from 1 November 2011 up to and including 16 March 2019.” Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS
He also insulted the court and threatened to arrest Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and the court’s chief prosecutor, if she entered the Philippines.In their Supreme Court motion, the rights activists said that withdrawing from the court would deprive Filipinos of “effective remedies” against genocide and other crimes against humanity.The petitioners argued that “those who kill with impunity will only be further emboldened.”When Mr. Duterte took office in 2016, he vowed to end the scourge of drugs and dump the bodies of slain addicts and dealers in Manila Bay. In November, three police officers were Mr. Bagares said Mr. Duterte’s withdrawal from the court could have lasting consequences for human rights protections in the Philippines, which endured two decades of martial law under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who “We have further emboldened forces of impunity by removing one of the last restraints holding them back,” Mr. Bagares said. If they don’t have jurisdiction, they cannot do anything against us,” Mr. Panelo said. Duterte’s spokesman said the ICC had no basis to continue its preliminary examination and the government would not cooperate with it. Bensouda has been examining whether thousands of extrajudicial killings allegedly committed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on drugs are sufficient to warrant a formal investigation. But she said that would not stop the court from continuing its investigation.“He can still be held liable for offenses committed while the Philippines was a signatory to the I.C.C.,” Ms. Hontiveros said.Salvador Panelo, a spokesman for Mr. Duterte, said Thursday that as far as the government was concerned, the court no longer had the authority to investigate the Philippines.He said that unlike Burundi, the Philippines had not had a case filed against it before quitting the court.“They don’t have jurisdiction. The Philippines unilaterally withdrew from the ICC in March 2018 over what Duterte called “outrageous” attacks and violations of due process by it. ICC Statement on The Philippines’ notice of withdrawal: State participation in Rome Statute system essential to international rule of law: Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on opening Preliminary Examinations into the situations in the Philippines … But she said that would not stop the court from continuing its investigation. The Philippines unilaterally withdrew from the ICC in March 2018 over what Duterte called “outrageous” attacks and violations of due process by it. More than 5,000 suspected drug dealers have been killed in police anti-narcotics operations since Duterte took office in June 2016. Over 5,000 people have been killed by the police in what are often described as drug raids. MANILA — The Philippines officially withdrew from the International Criminal Court on Sunday, after the country’s highest court declined to overrule President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to leave the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal.Romel Bagares, a lawyer for a coalition of rights activists who had asked the Supreme Court of the Philippines for an injunction against the move, said the Philippine withdrawal was “a terrible setback in the long fight against impunity in the country.”“It is our last resort when our institutions fail,” Mr. Bagares said of the international court, “and they have grievously been failing in the last two years, with apparent government inaction on thousands of deaths arising from the president’s drug war.”In withdrawing from the court last year, Mr. Duterte said that the Philippine government had enough mechanisms in place to ensure that the justice system functioned properly.