MindaNews fact-checked a claim made by lawyer Harry Roque about the “impending arrest” of former President Rodrigo Duterte based on an arrest warrant supposedly issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). His claim is false.
Roque, who served as presidential spokesperson under Duterte, made the claim both on mainstream and social media. His Facebook live on the “impending arrest” has garnered at least 24,000 views and 1,041 reactions as of Feb. 16.
Harry Roque on Wednesday, Feb. 7, reiterated his call for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order the Armed Forces of the Philippines and law enforcement agencies not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in relation to “the impending arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte” based on an arrest warrant issued by the Court.
“As his counsel, I maintain that the Court lost its jurisdiction over the country’s war on drugs case because the Prosecutor failed to conduct its preliminary investigation before the effectivity of the Philippine withdrawal from the Rome Statute,” Roque was quoted as saying.
Roque had aired the same statement via his social media livestream on Feb. 4.
The claim that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Duterte and that an arrest is impending is false.
The Court has made no announcement that certain past or incumbent Philippine officials have been charged in relation to the alleged extrajudicial killings under the “war on drugs” of the former administration.
Moreover, the Philippine government, or any of its agencies, has not received a request from the Court for the arrest of Duterte.
As of Feb. 16, the records of the ICC showed that the Court’s latest action concerning the situation in the Philippines is the Appeals Chamber’s “Judgment on the appeal of the Republic of the Philippines Against Pre-Trial Chamber I’s Authorization pursuant to Article 18(2) of the Statute to resume the investigation.”
Three members of the Appeals Chamber (Judges Piotr Hofmański, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, and Solomy Balungi Bossa) voted against the Philippines’ appeal while two (Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze) voted in favor and wrote a dissenting opinion on the majority decision
As of the same date, the ICC has not posted any update on the resumption of the investigation.
According to an ICC explainer, warrants of arrest are issued by the Pre-Trial Chambers, which resolve all issues which arise before the trial phase begins. “Their role is essentially to supervise how the Office of the Prosecutor carries out its investigatory and prosecutorial activities, to guarantee the rights of suspects, victims and witnesses during the investigatory phase, and to ensure the integrity of the proceedings.”
“The Pre-Trial Chambers then decide whether or not to issue warrants of arrest or summonses to appear at the Office of the Prosecutor’s request and whether or not to confirm the charges against a person suspected of a crime. They may also decide on the admissibility of situations and cases and on the participation of victims at the pre-trial stage.”
Philippine officials have declared they would heed President Marcos’ order to all government agencies to not cooperate with the ICC, which he claimed no longer has jurisdiction over the country after its withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
Among them is the Philippine National Police, the country’s leading law enforcement body, whose assurance to not cooperate with the ICC “is simply in obedience to the directive of the President who exercises control over the executive department, including the national police,” according to Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra.
No official or agency has announced receiving a request from the ICC to help in serving the supposed arrest warrant on Duterte.
“The responsibility to enforce warrants of arrest in all cases remains with States. In establishing the ICC, the States set up a system based on two pillars. The Court itself is the judicial pillar. The operational pillar belongs to States, including the enforcement of Court orders,” according to the ICC explainer.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories.
MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network.(H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
