MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo said that she will allow investigators from the International Criminal Court to probe President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal campaign against drugs should she become his successor in Malacañang.
“I will allow it. It will be very open, very transparent. If there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear,” Robredo said in Filipino in an interview with entertainment host Boy Abunda that premiered on Wednesday.
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Not only will she let ICC investigators come to the Philippines to conduct their probe on the “drug war,” where crimes against humanity are alleged to have occurred, Robredo said she will also push for the country to rejoin the international tribunal.
“I will propose that we restore our membership with the ICC because this is very important to keep government in check,” she said.
In a previous interview with GMA News anchor Jessica Soho, Robredo said she is not in the position to say whether Duterte should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity by the ICC.
“I do not have the capacity to say whether or not he needs to be prosecuted because it’s still in the preliminary stage of investigation,” Robredo said then.
The Duterte administration decided to bolt out from the ICC after its chief prosecutor at the time, Fatou Bensouda, launched a preliminary examination into the crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the president and his officials in the course of the anti-drug campaign.
A preliminary examination determines whether the ICC can proceed with a full-blown investigation.
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The preliminary examination into Duterte's “drug war” concluded in June 2021, with Bensouda requesting judicial authorization to pursue an investigation into the killings committed during the course of the campaign. This request was granted in September 2021.
But the investigation was paused two months after under ICC’s current prosecutor, Karim Khan, following the Philippine government’s request to defer the probe as it reasoned that the judicial system in the country remains alive and functioning — a claim denied by relatives of those killed in the "drug war."
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