PNP to ICC: We only recognize PH’s justice system

VANGUARD OF JUSTICE The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is investigating the extrajudicial killings related to the drug war in the Philippines from Nov. 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, when Rodrigo Duterte served as Davao City mayor and Philippine president. —ICC PHOTO

Updated on April 24, 2024 at 1:09 p.m.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday stood firm that it would only recognize the country’s justice system even as International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators reportedly contacted its former and incumbent officials implicated in ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo stressed that the country has a working judicial system, noting that there were police personnel who faced justice over drug war abuses.

READ: Trillanes: ICC contacted 50 past, present PNP officials on Duterte case

“We have a working judicial system, at meron pong mga korte na doon po tayo pwedeng duminig kung meron man pong mga pang-aabuso at iregularidad sa hanay ng PNP,” Fajardo said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum.

(… and we have courts where they could be heard if there are abuses and irregularities in the ranks of the PNP.)

“Ito po ay napatunayan natin dahil may mga pulis tayo na nakasuhan, nakulong, at na convict. Ganoon po ang gagawin ng PNP, magpapasakop po tayo sa hurisdiksyon ng Pilipinas,” she also said.

(This was proven because we have policemen who were charged, jailed, and convicted. That’s what the PNP will do, we will submit to the jurisdiction of the Philippines.)

Fajardo made the reaction to former Senator Sonny Trillanes IV’s revelation on Wednesday that more than 50 active and former PNP personnel were contacted by the ICC regarding their implication in the crimes against humanity case of Duterte.

“This means that if they do not immediately signify their intention to cooperate with the investigators, their status would be elevated to being suspects,” Trillanes also said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), noting this would result in travel restrictions initially and eventual arrest via International Criminal Police Organization.

Fajardo, however, said the PNP “will take cue from the national government” as to the next step about the matter.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. previously said that his administration will not hand Duterte over to the ICC, saying their warrants will not be recognized by the government.

Duterte declared the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute or the treaty which established the ICC, in March 2018. The withdrawal took effect a year after or in March 2019.

Despite this, the ICC retained jurisdiction over alleged crimes in the Philippines — from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019 — while the country was still a state party.

Duterte was the chief architect of the drug which claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

But human rights watchdogs and the ICC itself estimated the toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone, as they noted that several of these are extrajudicial killings.

To date, only three policemen were found guilty over drug war killings.

Police officers involved in the 2017 death of Kian delos Santos were found guilty of murder, sentenced to reclusion perpetua — or imprisonment for at least thirty years after which the convict becomes eligible for pardon — but without the eligibility of parole.