PH to ICC: Don’t be used by destabilizers

The Philippine government has appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to allow itself to be used by critics of the Duterte administration for their own political agenda.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement when he represented the Philippines at the General Debate of the 16th Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York on Friday (before dawn in Manila).

Roque said the Philippines is doing its best to address the issues of illegal drugs, criminality, and terrorism in the country and that individuals, without naming any of them, are only out to destabilize the government through the ICC.

“We urge the Court to resist attempts by some sectors to treat the Court as a venue to pursue political agenda to destabilize governments and undermine legitimate national authorities,” Roque said in his statement.

“It is indeed actions like these that politicize and dilute the Court’s mandate which ultimately undermine national efforts to punish and prosecute crimes covered by the Statute and derail current efforts to achieve universality of the Rome Statute,” he added.

Roque was referring to the Rome Statute which states that the ICC can only investigate and prosecute international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, if states are unwilling to do so themselves.

Roque said the Philippines will remain committed to the Rome Statute, but said that the country may have to reassess its membership in the Court if pushed in that direction.

“The Philippines reaffirms its support for the principles of the Rome Statute and the Court, including efforts to have candid dialogue and consultations to address allegations of inequality and unfairness in the work of the Court,” he said.

“We trust that the Court’s exercise of its mandate will respect national processes geared towards exacting criminal accountability for conduct committed within our territory,” he added.

“A violation of the very basis for our consent – which is complementarity — will constrain us to reassess our continuing commitment to the Court and the Rome Statute,” he said.

According to Roque, the intervention of the ICC in the affairs of the country should come as a last resort as he assured the attending parties that the Philippines is attending to the matters.

“In reaffirming our commitment to the Rome Statute and the Court, we are also reminded that the Court is a court of last resort,” he said.