PHILIPPINE officials and the majority of Filipinos, except for the communists and their fellow travelers in the political opposition and the mainstream media, have roundly rejected the call of the outgoing chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into the Duterte administration’s conduct of the ‘War on Drugs’ since 2016.
In separate statements, members of the Senate joined other Philippine officials in rejecting the statement of Fatou Bensouda last June 14, 2021, asking the ICC to formally launch a probe on the Philippines’ effort to rid the country of the menace of illegal drugs on the baseless claim of ‘crimes against humanity’ over the number of those killed in the war against drug syndicates.
Senate President Vicente Sotto, author of RA 1965, the country’s anti-drug law, said he wants to know if Bensouda is also seeking to investigate the much deadlier drug-related killings in South American countries like Colombia and Mexico.
“Vigilantes? What about drug groups killings in Mexico and other South American countries, are they also investigating,” Sotto asked the following day.
Sen. Francis Tolentino, for his part, also questioned Bensouda’s credibility, saying, “I still have some doubts as to the official credibility of former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s ICC recommendations announced hours before she retired from ICC. We should note that previously Madame Bensouda was included in the SDN (specifically designated national) list of the US government under President Trump,” Tolentino noted.
“How can she during her tenure objectively conduct an investigation when some members of the international community considered her as persona non grata for terrorist links?
“A lot of questions will have to be answered first whether a retired prosecutor can still recommend the prosecution of a head of state of a non-Treaty of Rome signatory,” the solon added.
The Philippines had withdrawn from the ICC, formally completing the process in 2019; two years before, Bensouda said she wants the Philippines investigated on the basis of exaggerated news report on the number of those killed and the perjured testimony Atty. Jude Sabio.
Sen, Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go, for his part, is more direct in his criticism, saying the ICC “has no business” interfering in the Philippines’ domestic affairs.
“They have no business interfering with our internal affairs,” Go said during an interview after he attended the launch of the country’s 120th Malasakit Center at the San Lazaro Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila, last June 16, 2021.
Go stressed that the independent judicial system in the country is working, eliminating the need for foreign courts to meddle in the country’s internal affairs.
Lawyer Larry Gadon, guesting at the ‘Meet the Press/Report to the Nation’ media Forum of the National Press Club last June 18, 2021, also averred that Bensouda is being motivated by material consideration when she made her call for the ICC to investigate the Philippines while already at the end of her term.
Bensouda, a citizen of Gambia, is set to be replaced by Karim Khan from Great Britain at the end of this month of June.
Gadon averred that Bensouda needs to “justify” the “donations” her office had received from various sources, as well as her conduct while in office and had decided to “bully” the Philippines for the purpose.
Only the CPP and allies making noise
Significantly, only the Communist Party of the Philippines, its front organizations in Congress and its fellow travelers in the political opposition and in the mainstream media who are trying to blow up Bensouda’s statement, which is nothing but just propaganda against the government that actually lacks substance because it cannot be implemented.
In a statement on June 15, 2021, Department of Foreign Affairs secretary, Tedoro Locsin noted that under the Rome Statute, the ICC only has “complementary, not primary, jurisdiction for the prosecution of the persons most responsible for the most serious crimes of international concern.”
By her statement, Bensouda now wants the ICC to have primary jurisdiction over the probe of the Philippines, which is a violation of international rules and of the Rome Statute itself.
The noise being created by the communists in support of the ICC is clearly another attempt at diverting the more pressing issue of their own gross violation of human rights highlighted by the CPP-NPA’s cold-blooded murder of civilians, Kieth and Nolvin Absalon in Masbate province last June 6, 2021.
Aside from exploding an anti-personnel mine (APM) that already seriously wounded the victims, the NPA also approached and shot the Absalons in cold blood, the result of their autopsy showed.
At the time Bensouda issued her statement, the CPP is already in panic mode after the Philippine government announced it has started preparations to bring before the United Nations (UN) the atrocities and other terrorist acts committed by the CPP-NPA over the years where the majority of victims are civilians.
‘End CPP-NPA terrorism’
Despite this concerted effort by the CPP and its allies at obfuscation and diversion of the issues that truly matters, the mother of Kieth Absalon made clear what is the only issue for them: Justice.
In a talk with Southern Luzon (Solcom) area commander Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade before Kieth and Nolvin was finally laid to rest a week after their murder, Mrs. Vilma Absalon appealed to Pres. Duterte “to relentlessly pursue the end of communist terrorism.”
“Hinihingi ko po sa ating Pangulo na sana po continuous ito (referring to the government’s counterinsurgency program). Sama-sama tayong magkaisa na ipagpatuloy natin, magmula ngayon.
“Ala-ala ito ni Kieth, na sana para ako rin may souvenir ako… na tayong mga Masbateño ay may kapayapaan,” Mrs. Absalon said, as quoted in the report filed by the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
It can be recalled that the Absalons rejected the written apology of the CPP-NPA that stated the “unnecessary deaths of Kieth and Nolven were a mistake in military action by their group.”