Abalos to police, LGUs: Reject all calls, requests from ICC

THE Department of the Interior Local Government (DILG) will abide by the directive of President Marcos Jr. not to cooperate or help in the investigation being conducted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the alleged human rights abuses committed during the implementation of the illegal drugs campaign of the previous administration.

Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. made the statement yesterday, a day after the President declared that the government will “not lift a finger” to assist in the ICC probe.

“We will follow the lead of the President,” Abalos said in a briefing in Malacañang, adding that the DILG and the agencies and organizations under it, such as the Philippine National Police and local government units (LGUs), will obey the President’s order.

The President on Tuesday maintained the ICC no longer has no jurisdiction over the Philippines following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.

Marcos also said that he considers the international court a “threat to Philippine sovereignty.”

Abalos said that if the ICC officially communicates with the DILG and seek its help, he will decline the request and inform the international court of the Philippine government’s position.

To date, Abalos said no ICC investigator or official has communicated with him or other DILG executives.

“As far as our office is concerned, the DILG is, I have no knowledge about this, there is no communication with them, nothing at all,” he said.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has disclosed that ICC investigators supposedly visited the country last month and have already completed their investigation and evidence gathering on the alleged human rights violations committed during the war on drugs campaign of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The ICC is investigating complaints of abuses against Duterte and his drug campaign, which human rights groups alleged resulted in the deaths of thousands of drug suspects.

The inquiry has prompted the former president to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019.

The ICC, however, it continued to have jurisdiction over the country because the alleged killings happened before the withdrawal