The Philippine government announced on Wednesday that it will not intervene should former President Rodrigo Duterte choose to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"If the former President desires to surrender himself to the jurisdiction of the ICC, the government will neither object to it nor move to block the fulfillment of his desire," Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.
However, if the ICC refers the process to Interpol, which may then issue a red notice to Philippine authorities, the government may be compelled to treat the notice as a formal request to be fulfilled.
In that scenario, domestic law enforcement agencies would be required to fully cooperate with Interpol, in accordance with established protocols.
During the House quad-committee hearing, Duterte challenged the ICC to speed up its investigation into the charges of crimes against humanity lodged against him.
According to Duterte, the ICC should hurry with its investigation because he might die before they are able to examine him regarding the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under his war on drugs campaign.
The former President assured that if the ICC finds him guilty of crimes against humanity, he is prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison.
