Playing with the International Criminal Court

WHAT is comforting about the statement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is that he reiterated his stand that the Philippines would not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it has no jurisdiction over any person in the country.

This is premised on the fact that the main requisite for the ICC to acquire jurisdiction is that it should first be established that our country is unable, or if able, is unwilling to prosecute any of our citizens, including former president Rodrigo Duterte, for acts committed that would fall under the purview of the Rome Statute, which include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. Ceding to ICC jurisdiction over these acts, if committed by any of our nationals, would be to admit that we have a non-functioning, failed justice system. And since our justice system, flawed as it may be, has existing laws and procedures to handle the cases enumerated above, then allowing ICC to acquire jurisdiction, more so cooperating with it, would amount to a surrender of our sovereignty.