PDEA denies ICC ‘basis’ to prosecute Duterte for bloody war on drugs

MANILA – The Philippine Drug Control Agency (PDEA) contested the International Criminal Court’s findings after the court said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug wars perpetrated crimes against the humanity.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda previously said it was “satisfied” with reports that crimes against humanity have been committed in the country’s counter-narcotics operations since Duterte took office in 2016.

But the PDEA said the court’s findings are based “solely on open source information.”

“Like all other well-founded reports, the ICC report must show evidence and undergo the standard validation and investigation process before reaching firm conclusions,” the agency said.

The PDEA stressed that the international court should have waited for the release of the country’s interagency panel report modeled by the Justice Department to investigate drug-related killings “rather than issuing blanket statements that have yet to be proven without the help. of a formal and local investigation “.

The agency cited the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution, which would provide technical cooperation and capacity building for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines instead of launching an independent investigation.

“Coming from the HRC, it is credible testimony that there is insufficient proof that there are extrajudicial killings in the Philippines,” the PDEA said.

However, rights groups have said the resolution falls short of launching an independent international investigation into the human rights situation in the country.

“The PDEA is optimistic that the ICC judges will decide not to carry out an open investigation into the situation in the Philippines based on the principle applied in previous judgments from its investigative chamber due to the lack of cooperation from the accused country, where the ICC has territorial jurisdiction, “the agency said.

Malacañang previously said that the ICC would simply waste its efforts, saying that the international court has no jurisdiction over the Philippines after its removal from the body last year.

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