MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Friday said the Philippine government will no longer engage with International Criminal Court (ICC) over its investigation into the drug war of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Marcos Jr. said he made the decision to protect the country's sovereignty.

He said the government's appeal over the permanent court's jurisdiction over the Philippines was the country's last involvement with the ICC.

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“That’s it. We have no appeals pending. We have no more actions being taken. So, I suppose that puts an end to our dealings with the ICC,” Marcos said during a chance interview with reporters in Zamboanga.

“So, we continue to defend the sovereignty of the Philippines and continue to question the jurisdiction of the ICC in their investigations here in the Philippines,” he added.

This also means that the country would not cooperate with the investigation.

“Basta tapos na lahat ng ating pag-uusap sa ICC. Kagaya ng sinasabi namin mula sa simula, we will not cooperate with them in any way, or form,” said the President.

“They (ICC prosecutors) are talking about Filipinos. Their alleged crimes are here in the Philippines; the victims are Filipino; bakit mapupunta sa The Hague? Kaya’t dito dapat,” he added.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said the Philippines will stop engaging with the ICC after its Appeals Chamber junked the government’s appeal against the resumption of the drug war probe.

The ICC Appeals Chamber backed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s January 2023 ruling authorizing the ICC Prosecutor to continue its probe on the killings in the Philippines in connection with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war and the so-called Davao Death Squad.

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It rejected the Philippines’ argument that the ICC no longer had jurisdiction over the country because at the time that the ICC Prosecutor was given initial authority to start its probe in September 2021, the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC had taken effect since March 2019.

Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the ICC in 2019, a year after the Hague-based tribunal began a preliminary probe into the crackdown which has killed thousands.

At least 6,181 people were killed in more than 200,000 anti-drug operations, according to the latest official data released by the Philippine government. ICC prosecutors estimate the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000.

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