By Azer Parrocha/ Philippine News Agency
President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday lambasted anew the International Criminal Court (ICC) for authorizing a full inquiry on his administration’s drug war, stressing that the court does not have jurisdiction over Philippine affairs.
“I will never accept jurisdiction. Mag ice na ang impiyerno, hindi ako papayag sa kalokohan nila,” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of a port in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
He said he would only stand on trial before a Filipino judge in the country and be detained in a Philippine prison rather than face “white people” at the ICC.
“Jurisdiction? Ako haharap sa mga judges na puti? Ako? Haharap ako sa Pilipino judges, hindi kayo,” he said.
Duterte said the ICC knows nothing about “domestic crimes”, especially in areas where shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride is abundantly sold.
He pointed out that the ICC also seemed to ignore abuses suffered by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), particularly domestic workers, in Middle Eastern countries.
“Millions of Filipinos go to other countries and these countries minsan are countries na walang alam sa human dignity. They go there, the Filipinas, they are raped repeatedly. So you can just imagine the insanity going inside their system. And yet yung mga iba, titiisin nila ‘yan. They will endure para lang magpadala ng pera,” he added.
Duterte described the ICC as a tool of oppression, composed of colonizers who have failed to atone for their sins against the countries they invaded.
“Kayong mga human rights, huwag ninyo ako bolahin, Pilipino ako. You pretend to atone for your sins. Sino ba nag-umpisa ng oppression? Di ba kayo?” he said.
He also reiterated that he would take full responsibility for his war on drugs, noting that he is even ready to go to prison.
“I assume full responsibility. And if there’s anybody who should go to prison, it should not be the police nor the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency). It should be me because they were acting upon my orders,” he said.
In September, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber authorized the request of its former chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, to conduct a full-blown investigation into Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Bensouda, in June, stressed that a preliminary probe found “a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed on the territory of the Philippines.”
The Philippines formally withdrew its membership from the ICC on March 17, 2019, or exactly a year after it revoked the Rome Statute that created the international tribunal. (PNA)-rir
