Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said that he will not resign despite opting out of defending the Marcos administration over former President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This was confirmed to DZRH News late Monday through a message.
Guevarra, as the default lawyer of the government, noted that the Office of the Solicitor General's (OSG) position is "pro-republic."
"The OSG’s position was pro-republic, Henry. I serve at the pleasure of the president," said Guevarra to a DZRH reporter.
The Solicitor General earlier filed a manifestation to recuse himself, noting that the OSG cannot defend the government because it has always taken the position that the ICC had lost its jurisdiction over Duterte's war on drugs.
"The OSG has consistently maintained, both in its submissions before the ICC and in its public statements, that the case of the Philippines was not admissible and that the ICC failed to timely exercise its jurisdiction," said the manifestation, co-signed by Guevarra and his assistant solicitors general.
"Considering the OSG’s firm position that the ICC is barred from exercising jurisdiction over the Philippines and that the country’s investigative, prosecutorial, and judicial system is functioning as it should, the OSG may not be able to effectively represent Respondents in these cases and is constrained to recuse itself from participating herein," the manifestation added.
The Supreme Court (SC), on the other hand, confirmed Guevarra's filing of the motion at 1 a.m. on Monday.
Previously, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stood firm on the legality of the former president's arrest, asserting the country's commitment as part of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
"The arrest that we did today was in compliance with our commitments to INTERPOL. It just so happened that that came from the ICC. But it's not because it came from the ICC, it's because it came from INTERPOL," said the President.
Marcos added that the ICC case had begun its investigation in 2017, before the Philippines' withdrawal from the Rome Statute the following year.
Duterte was arrested on March 11 upon his arrival at NAIA Terminal 3 after attending a Thanksgiving event with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong.
Malacañang noted that, hours before Duterte's arrival in the country, Interpol Manila had received an official copy of the ICC warrant, which led the Prosecutor General of the Department of Justice to serve the warrant.
Duterte is currently in the custody of the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, facing charges of crimes against humanity committed during his term as president and as mayor of Davao City, where he was allegedly the head of the Davao Death Squad (DDS).
The former president appeared before the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber last Friday, where he was informed of the charges against him and his rights as a suspect in the case.
