Duterte ready to face int'l court after presidency

With less than a week left in his term, President Rodrigo Duterte said he is ready to face charges against him, including the crimes against humanity case filed before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with his bloody war on drugs.

In a speech during the awarding of Madayaw Residences Units in Davao City on Thursday, Duterte urged the ICC to stop threatening to investigate the alleged crimes against humanity carried out in his administration's drug war.

"Ang ICC, nakikinig man kayo, huwag na kayong mag-drama ng idemanda-idemanda niyo (The ICC, if you're listening, stop pretending that you're going to file charges against me)," he said.

Although there is no provision in the 1987 Constitution granting the incumbent President immunity from suit, this has been established through jurisprudence.

Duterte's predecessors, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino 3rd, were both charged with various crimes after their term.

Arroyo was detained for four years until she was acquitted of plunder in 2016.

In 2018, critics of Duterte's drug war, along with relatives of suspects killed in police operations, filed a complaint against the Chief Executive before the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Duterte had insisted that the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate the drug war because the Philippine justice system is working.

The Philippines formally ended its ties with the ICC on March 17, 2019, or exactly a year after the scrapping of the Rome Statute.

In his Thursday's speech, the President maintained that violence and fear are necessary in law enforcement, particularly in the drug war.

He also reiterated that he will continue protecting police and military officials and officers facing charges even after he steps down from office on June 30.

Source: TheManila Times