Newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday the Philippines has no plan to rejoin the International Criminal Court, a decision that supports his predecessor’s stance but rejects the wishes of human rights activists.
Marcos Jr., who took office on June 30, said he recently met his justice secretary and other legal advisers to discuss the possible resumption of an ICC investigation into the drug killings. “We are saying there is already an investigation here and the investigation is continuing. Why will there be such?” Marcos Jr. said, questioning the possible resumption of the ICC probe.
More than 6,000 mostly poor drug suspects were killed in Duterte’s police-enforced crackdown based on police statistics. Human rights groups say the death toll is considerably higher and should include many unsolved killings by motorcycle-riding gunmen who may have been deployed by police.