Sara appealing to DOJ: Don’t cooperate with ICC

MANILA, Philippines — While maintaining that President Marcos’ foreign policy decisions should be followed, Vice President Sara Duterte said she would urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) not to cooperate in the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s investigation of the bloody war on drugs during the administration of her father.

Asked about Marcos’ softened tone regarding the issue of cooperation with the ICC, Duterte said, “We all should respect the position of the President, being the chief architect of foreign policy. His position should be the position of all.”

But she stressed her office would continue to assert its position against cooperating with the ICC’s investigation on her father’s drug war.

“But we will continue to reach out to DOJ regarding our position on this matter… and we will lay down the legal basis of our position,” she told reporters yesterday.

Last week, Marcos said proposals for the country to rejoin the ICC are “under study,” raising the possibility of ICC prosecutors being allowed to investigate and possibly prosecute Duterte and his officials for crimes against humanity committed in the conduct of his war on drugs.

Marcos made the statement after members of the House of Representatives, whose relations with the Vice President and her father appear to have soured, filed resolutions urging the administration “to extend their full cooperation to the ICC Prosecutor with respect to its investigation of any alleged crime within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”

After years of delay, the ICC decided earlier this year to resume its inquiry into the Philippines’ war on drugs.

The decision drew pushback from several lawmakers allied with former president Duterte, as well as from Marcos and members of his Cabinet, including Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

Over 6,000 suspected drug offenders have been killed in Duterte’s drug war based on government data. However, human rights groups said the number of fatalities could be several times higher.

For lawyer and former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, ICC’s absence of judicial cognizance over the drug war case precludes it from investigating former president Duterte and his Vice