How long can BBM protect Duterte?

PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (BBM) has put former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte well beyond the reach of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague by rejecting its purported jurisdiction over Duterte's alleged extrajudicial drug killings in the Philippines. To allow the ICC to intervene in these cases would constitute an encroachment upon the sovereignty of the Philippine government, which is in control of its criminal justice system, Marcos officials said.

This statement has had a large impact on the nation's political and media environment, but as some constitutional luminaries have pointed out, it is only partially correct. Nations surrender part of their sovereign rights whenever they enter into treaties and international statutes and accept certain limitations imposed by those treaties and statutes. Primary are the rights a member-state cedes to the United Nations and other international organizations.