ICC reopens probe into Philippines’ deadly ‘war on drugs’

MANILA – The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday reopened its investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed during former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war, which killed thousands across the country.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber said that it granted prosecutor Karim Khan’s request to resume the probe into the deadly drug war and other suspected human rights abuses under the Duterte regime.

This means Mr Khan may now seek evidence to potentially ask the ICC to issue summons or warrants related to the investigation.

The probe also covers the alleged killings committed in Davao City in southern Philippines when Mr Duterte was still mayor and vice-mayor there from 2011 to 2016. He was president from 2016 to 2022.

The ICC said it is not satisfied that the Philippines is willing to pursue its own investigation into the drug war.

Mr Duterte had pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal in 2019 when it conducted a preliminary probe into the campaign that saw thousands of drug suspects killed in police operations across the country.

The ICC paused its investigation in November 2021 when the Duterte government filed a deferral to submit proof that it can investigate the drug war deaths on its own.

But the ICC is not satisfied. “The chamber concluded that the various domestic initiatives and proceedings, assessed collectively, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the court’s investigation,” it said.

Official data from the Duterte government said 6,181 people were killed during the “war on drugs”, but human rights organisations said the number of victims may be up to 30,000.

The Philippine National Police has denied that the killings were executions and claimed the slain suspects resisted arrest. But the victims’ families tell a different tale, arguing that their dead kin followed police orders, yet were still shot at close range.

Death certificates of drug war victims were also allegedly forged by the authorities to say they died of natural causes. The Department of Justice under Mr Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, is now looking into this.

Mr Marcos has pivoted away from his predecessor’s bloody approach to the illegal drug problem, but he also said he would protect his ally, Mr Duterte, from any ICC investigations. In August 2022, Mr Marcos said the country would not be rejoining the ICC. 

Mr Duterte, through a statement issued by his former spokesman Harry Roque, said he would never allow foreigners to judge him as long as Philippine courts are willing and able to do so.

“He would humbly submit to the prosecution and judgment of any local court. He is ready to face any of his accusers,” said Mr Roque.

But he added that Mr Duterte would not subject himself to any foreign body’s investigation “because it is an insult to the competence and impartiality of our functioning criminal justice system”.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, Mr Duterte’s former police chief, who is among the officials being investigated by the ICC, is frustrated by the tribunal’s decision. “Let them do whatever they want. Our government is not allowing them to enter our country for the investigation,” Mr dela Rosa said in a television interview on Friday.

“They can’t investigate here because our criminal justice system is working. If they come here, it is like a slap in the faces of our prosecutors and judges,” he added.

Solicitor-General Menardo Guevarra, who is now serving under the Marcos government after having been Mr Duterte’s justice secretary, said the authorities plan to appeal against the decision before the ICC’s appeals chamber. 

“We wish to emphasise that our own domestic investigative and judicial processes should take precedence, and we can show that despite structural and resource limitations in our legal system, it is still a well-functioning system that yields positive results in its own time,” he said in a statement. 

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a press conference on Friday afternoon that he does not understand why the ICC insists on investigating the drug war when the Philippines is no longer part of the tribunal.

Mr Remulla, however, said the Marcos government is “open to dialogue” with the ICC, but stressed that the latter cannot impose its power on the Philippines.

“If they want us to investigate a pattern in the killings, then they should show us the pattern, so we can pick up on what their theory is. But they cannot assume jurisdiction in our country without us allowing them to do that... We are no longer a member of the ICC,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged that there are limitations in the government’s ongoing investigation of pending drug war cases. “There are many limitations... As a country, we are doing what it takes to fix the system. We are a fully functional judicial system,” he said.

The United Nations Human Rights Council said last October that justice remains elusive for the victims of Mr Duterte’s drug war.

There have been only two convictions so far.

In November 2018, three police officers were found guilty and sentenced to 40 years’ jail for killing a 17-year-old high school student at the height of the anti-drug campaign. Another officer was jailed two years later for torturing two teenagers during the drug war.

Human rights groups have said Mr Duterte’s anti-drug campaign is a “war against the poor” as it failed to target high-level traffickers but targeted small-time drug users and pushers, who are often the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.

Some 800 police generals and colonels have submitted courtesy resignations to Mr Marcos, who earlier this month ordered an investigation into the police’s alleged links to the illegal drug trade.

In the Philippines, appointed government officials allegedly involved in wrongdoing are usually asked to resign out of respect for the appointing authority while an investigation is ongoing.

Only the resignations of police officers with proven drug links will be accepted by the President. The officers are still performing their duties in the meantime.