President Rodrigo Duterte is being encouraged by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to participate in the probe of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his alleged crimes against humanity amid the implementation of his administration's war on drugs.
Duterte has repeatedly slammed in the past the ICC and refused to cooperate in its investigation, saying he would rather be tried in a Philippine tribunal.
Marc Siapno, deputy spokesperson of the CHR, said someone should advice Duterte to participate in the process in order to maintain the government's law-abiding image.
"Siguro kailangan bigyan ng sound advice ang presidente na kung gusto talaga nating pangalagaan ang reputasyon ng pamahalaan bilang isang law-abiding country, we need to be able to demonstrate that we are willing and able to participate in the process," he told DZRH in an interview.
(Maybe we need to give the president sound advice that if we really want to protect the reputation of the government as a law-abiding country, we need to be able to demonstrate that we are willing and able to participate in the process.)
The government has stressed that the ICC no longer has jurisdiction over the country after it pulled out of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the tribunal. But Siapno said the government should review its position on it.
"Sinasabi pa rin kasi ng Rome Statute na kahit nag-withdraw na tayo, lahat ng mga act pertaining to all those under ICC jurisdiction before the withdrawal, saklaw pa rin siya ng ICC," he said.
(The Rome Statute still states that even if we had already withdrawn, all of the acts pertaining to those under ICC jurisdiction before the withdrawal is still covered by the ICC.)
According to the spokesperson, the process of the ICC would push through and it urged the government, particularly the Department of Justice, to expedite and increase its investigations of alleged cases of extrajudicial killings.
"At the end of day, ang proseso ng ICC gugulong at gugulong 'yan," he said, adding: "Titingin talaga 'yan sa kung anong ginagawa ng pamahalaan as to addressing 'yung mga inilatag sa kanilang problema tulad na lang ng culture of impunity and thousands of death na ibinigay ng mga nagpaabot ng communication sa ICC."
(At the end of the day, the process of the ICC will push through. It will look into what the government is doing to address the issues they are accused of such as the culture of impunity and thousands of deaths that were brought to the ICC.)
As an advisor to the government, Siapno said the CHR wants the government to be able to "demonstrate that our justice system is working."
"We continue to urge the government to amplify and up its rate when it comes to investigation to so that we can really demonstrate that we are willing and able to provide justice," said Siapno.
