Guevarra seeks DFA opinion re ICC matters

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra has discussed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the country’s comment on Prosecutor Karim Khan’s move to investigate the Duterte administration’s drug war, although he will still need the opinion of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the matter.

This was Guevarra’s reply regarding queries whether he had already consulted the President on the issue.

“Yes, we talked about it privately during a break in the Cabinet meeting last Tuesday. But our discussion was not complete. We needed the opinion of the DFA secretary, who was then still abroad,” Guevarra said in a message.

Earlier, he said PBBM will have to be consulted regarding the ICC request for the Philippines to comment on Khan’s move to resume the investigation into former president Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs.

“There are state sovereignty issues involved. We need to cover those points, first and foremost,” Guevarra told reporters.

“The President has not had the occasion to discuss the ICC case thoroughly with anyone. But I intend to consult with him about it very soon,” he said.

Guevarra, who was the Justice secretary during the Duterte administration, said the Office of the Solicitor General was already studying several legal options in dealing with the ICC probe.

He said the Philippine government may question the jurisdiction of the ICC and the “admissibility of the case,” as Duterte and his subordinates had done previously.

He said the government might also opt to “leave our lines of communication with the ICC open.”

Duterte, himself a lawyer, had claimed the ICC lost its jurisdiction over him when he announced in March 2018 the country’s withdrawal as a state party to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the tribunal.