16-4-2024 (MANILA) President Ferdinand Marcos declared on Monday that he would not surrender his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating the lethal drug war initiated by Duterte.
Since 2016, thousands have perished in Duterte’s anti-narcotics crusade, a campaign that has persisted under Marcos’s administration.
When queried on Monday if he would extradite Duterte to the ICC should it issue an arrest warrant, Marcos unequivocally replied, “no.”
“We don’t recognise the warrant that they will send to us. That’s a no,” he asserted during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
Marcos defended his stance, stating, “We are well within international law when we take the position of not recognising the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines.”
Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019 following the tribunal’s initiation of inquiries into allegations of human rights violations committed during his anti-drug campaign.
In September 2021, the ICC commenced a formal investigation into Duterte’s crackdown, only to halt it two months later after Manila announced a review of hundreds of drug-related cases resulting in fatalities at the hands of law enforcement, hired killers, and vigilantes.
Despite Manila’s appeal and subsequent loss, the ICC’s chief prosecutor sought to resume the inquiry, receiving approval from pre-trial judges at the court in late January 2023.
Official data released by the Philippines indicates that over 6,000 individuals lost their lives in anti-drug operations under Duterte. However, ICC prosecutors estimate the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000.
Under Marcos’s leadership, the drug war persists, albeit with a greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation.
Marcos has consistently opposed rejoining the ICC, arguing that the Philippines possesses a functional judicial system, rendering ICC intervention unnecessary.
Relations between the Marcos and Duterte families have deteriorated in recent years.
Marcos, the son and namesake of the former dictator, clinched victory in the 2022 presidential election amid a sprawling social media disinformation campaign aimed at whitewashing his family’s tainted history.
Sara Duterte, Marcos’s vice-presidential running mate and the daughter of the former president, played a pivotal role in securing crucial support from her family’s stronghold of Mindanao.
The rift between the families has become increasingly public as they rally support and secure strategic positions ahead of the 2025 mid-term elections and the 2028 presidential polls.
Amid accusations of drug abuse exchanged between Duterte and Marcos, Duterte previously advocated for Mindanao’s secession from the Philippines.
When pressed to characterize his current relationship with the Duterte family, Marcos quipped, “it’s complicated,” eliciting laughter from the audience.
