Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on Thursday said no one in the Philippines can enforce the warrant of arrest that may be issued by the International Criminal Court aside from members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies.
“The PNP members and other law enforcement officers are the only persons authorized to serve warrants of arrest in Philippine territory,” Guevarra said, in a text message to reporters.
On Wednesday, Feb. 7, PNP Spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo made it clear that the PNP will not enforce the arrest warrants that will be issued by the ICC against persons including former President Rodrigo R. Duterte over allegations of abuses, including killings, committed during the drug war under his administration.
“The PNP’s statement that it will not enforce any warrant that may be issued by the ICC is simply in obedience to the directive of President Marcos who exercises control over the executive department, including the national police,” the Solicitor General stressed.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV had earlier claimed that the ICC may soon issue arrest warrants after having concluded its investigation against those accused of crimes against humanity.
Lawyer Harry Roque who served as presidential spokesperson under Duterte, on the other hand, said that they also received information that there is already an arrest warrant from the ICC.
Last year, the government, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), asked the ICC to stop the conduct of an investigation of Duterte due to lack of jurisdiction.
The OCG told the ICC that the Philippines already withdrew as a party from the Rome Statute that the created the ICC and the withdrawal took effect on 2019 before any order to conduct an investigation probe was made.
