MANILA -- Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra underscored that the justice system in the country is working, following the conviction of four policemen of homicide by a Caloocan court Tuesday. 

"This development proves what I have been saying all along; i.e., that our legal system, while admittedly not perfect, is functioning as it should," Guevarra said. 

The Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 121 found Police Master Sgt. Virgilio Servantes and Police Corporals Arnel De Guzman, Johnston Alacre, and Argemio Saguros, Jr. guilty of homicide, on Tuesday.

READ: Court finds four Philippine police guilty in drug war killings

Guevarra also stressed that the same has been the position of the Philippine government before the International Criminal Court.

While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the court continues its probe on the drug war led by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

"The ICC cannot put us in a straightjacket by demanding results in weeks or months. Our domestic institutions give every person under investigation or prosecution his/her day in court, and while this process may take time, it nonetheless serves justice to everyone in the end," Guevarra said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday hailed the conviction of police officers for the killing of father and son Luis and Gabriel Bonifacio in an anti-drug operation in 2016, saying this shows the Philippine criminal justice system works.

"This conviction is a milestone in our criminal justice system, a testament [to] the government’s unwavering efforts to safeguarding human rights in the pursuit of justice and a clear proof of a functioning justice system," Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

Thousands of drug suspects were killed by police and unknown gunmen in a campaign that became the centerpiece of Duterte's 2016-2022 rule, a crackdown that critics described as state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and is now a subject of an investigation by the ICC.

While the crackdown has been widely condemned and sparked an international investigation, only five other policemen have been convicted for killing drug suspects.

Three Manila police officers were convicted in 2018 of murdering a 17-year old boy in 2017. Two other narcotics police officers were found guilty last year for separate killings in 2016 and 2017, the latter victim a South Korean businessman. -- with a report from Pam Castro, Agence France-Presse

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