Today, March 17, 2025 marks the sixth year of Rodrigo Duterte’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute which created the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte’s self-serving decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute was an attempt to escape accountability in the face of the ICC’s initiation of investigations into the mass killings of drug suspects. Duterte’s withdrawal from the ICC, however, did not exempt him from being investigated for drug-related killings perpetrated from November 2011, when the Philippines ratified the Rome Statute, up to March 2019, when Duterte’s withdrawal became effective.
Duterte’s subsequent arrest and transfer to the ICC’s custody is the long overdue result of the people’s determined struggle for justice and accountability. Despite Duterte’s arrest, however, his lieutenants in his bloody drug war like former police chiefs Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Oscar Albayalde and Debold Sinas and P/Col. Lito Patay, remain free and are seeking ways to escape accountability. We likewise demand their arrest so they could be made to answer for their crimes.
Duterte’s arrest shows how the infrastructure of impunity exists in the Philippines. Domestic redress mechanisms have been inutile in exacting justice and accountability, with only three convictions so far of police perpetrators out of the tens of thousands of drug war killings under the Duterte regime. Families of victims are discouraged and threatened with reprisals if they pursue cases. The costs of acquiring lawyers, filing pleadings, and going to hearings, as well as the psychological and social costs are staggering.
As international instruments and institutions like the ICC exists, ratification of and compliance to the human rights treaties such as the Rome Statute has been dependent on the political blueprints of heads of State.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s continued refusal to rejoin the ICC can only be due to his being targeted in the future by the international court for the numerous violations of international humanitarian law being perpetrated in the course of the counter-insurgency war. Marcos Jr. is himself accountable for these as well as for the violations of human rights under his watch.
It is incumbent upon the Filipino people to be vigilant and to persist in the struggle for justice and accountability. Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have existed for so long as main features of repressive governments that allow criminals in power to go scotfree. While we seek legal redress in international mechanisms such as the ICC, it is important that we strengthen our ranks to change the system that serves as the bedrock of impunity.