A petition has been filed before a local court questioning the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to proceed with its investigation of killings in the country during the previous administration’s war on drugs.

In his suit filed before the Calbayog City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in December last year and presented to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday, lawyer Fernando Perito and his co-petitioner, overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Joseph Forrosuelo also sought the deportation of any ICC personnel already in the country and a preliminary injunction against the conduct of any investigation.

“To allow any prosecutor, investigator, or any representative coming from ICC to enter the Philippines …cause grave and irreparable damage to our democracy and justice system. They would create unreasonable havoc in the form of dispensing justice to all Filipinos,” the duo said in the petition.

Named respondents were the ICC represented by chief prosecutor Karim Khan “or any designated prosecutor, or investigator and its staff that would include forensic specialists,”.

State lawyers have reiterated that the government is not obligated to cooperate with the ICC, despite calls by some lawmakers to do the same.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra explained that the resolutions by lawmakers encouraging the government to cooperate with the ICC are mere expressions of sentiments.

Guevarra earlier said Manila has no legal duty to cooperate with the ICC prosecutor in the investigation of the drug war because the ICC can no longer exercise its jurisdiction after the effectivity of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC in 2019. (PNA)

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