MALACAÑANG on Saturday insisted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should not open an investigation into President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs, as it has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. In a statement, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the ICC’s insistence to investigate the government’s drug was an “utter disrespect” to the Philippines, an “independent country” that has a working justice system. READ: UPDATE: ICC may wrap up preliminary examination on Duterte drug war by 2020The Philippines became a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, on Nov. 1, 2011. “Hence, the ICC never acquired jurisdiction over the Philippines, the latter’s membership thereat being void ab initio (invalid from the outset). The Philippines claims parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone and calls it the West Philippine Sea.

Source: Manila Times December 07, 2019 13:18 UTC