MAGDALO URGES PBBM TO LET ICC PROBERS INTO PH

By Junex Doronio

AFTER THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, dared to stand up against former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for maligning the institution and threatening one of its members, now comes the Magdalo group asking the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to allow the entry of International Criminal Court (ICC) probers into the country.

Maharlika NuMedia gathered that aside from the former president, his eldest daughter Vice President Sara Duterte, and two incumbent senators were also named in documents submitted to the ICC investigating the killings related to the “bloody drug war” during the previous administration.

“We, the Magdalo group, are urging the Marcos administration to allow the ICC investigators into the country in order to make ex-president Rodrigo Duterte accountable for his crimes against humanity,” said the Magdalo group led by ex-coup plotter and former Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.

Although the MAGDALO only zeroed in on the former president, VP Sara’s name was mentioned as knowing and approving the killings when she was Davao City mayor from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022.

“This is in light of Mr. Duterte’s recent public admission that he used his Confidential/Intelligence funds to conduct extra-judicial killings on his constituents in Davao City when he was still its mayor,” the Magdalo group added in its statement.

Earlier, PBBM declared that the government won’t cooperate with the ICC probe into the killings during his predecessor’s war on drugs.

“Being the original filers of the ICC case in 2017, we have witnessed and documented the barbaric actions of the past administration, as well as the trauma and hardships that the thousands of victims and their families have suffered. Truly, Justice is long overdue,” the group said.

Some political observers, however, told Maharlika NuMedia that with the older Duterte attacking Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and making grave threats, the ICC probers might be given the “green light” and both FPRRD and Inday Sara could be arrested.

According to Vera Files, although it lacks police power, the ICC relies on its 123 member states to cooperate in enforcing its arrest warrants.

The ICC can also seek the help of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) by issuing a request to its 195 member countries, including the Philippines, to arrest a wanted individual. (ai/mnm)