By Mikhail Flores
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines will respond favourably if Interpol is asked by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants related to its probe into the former president’s bloody “war on drugs”, a top official said on Friday.
Thousands of people were killed in ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drugs crackdown launched in 2016, many in mysterious circumstances, prompting the ICC to launch an investigation into possible crimes against humanity.
Duterte and police have denied activists’ allegations of systematic executions and cover-ups and say drug suspects were killed in self defence.
“If the ICC makes a move, and courses the move through the Interpol, and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest of delivery of the custody of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond favourably or positively to the Interpol request,” said Lucas P. Bersamin, the executive secretary of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
He was speaking in a media briefing following remarks by the justice minister in a Reuters interview on Thursday on the extent of the Philippines’ cooperation with the ICC, with which he said talks would start soon.
The “war on drugs” was the key policy plank that swept Duterte to power in 2016 as a maverick, crime-busting mayor, who delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of narcotics dealers.
Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC’s founding treaty in 2019 when it started looking into the killings and the Philippines has until recently refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation.
Duterte in a legislative hearing late last year urged the ICC to “hurry up” on its probe and defended his anti-drugs campaign.
According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the death toll was far greater, with thousands of drug users also slain. Police deny involvement in those killings.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by Martin Petty)
