As expected, the Marcos government declared its refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its plan to commence pre-trial investigation into the charges of crimes against humanity against Rodrigo Duterte over his sham “war on drugs” during his time in Malacañang.

Marcos and his minions are Duterte’s veritable defense lawyers. They are using the people’s money and the entire Philippine government to stop any and all effort to make Duterte account for the killing of more than 30,000 people during the violent spree of police and vigilante operations which he ordered and incited.

Marcos falsely declares “confidence in the fully functional domestic judicial system” which clearly has failed to address the aspirations for justice of the tens of thousands of families clearly who fell victim to Duterte’s carnage.

In Duterte’s defense, the Marcos government hypocritically invokes sovereignty to stop the ICC from performing its sworn duty as an international body that closely works with the United Nations and other widely recognized multilateral agencies.

Marcos and his minions have the least credibility to talk of defending sovereignty in the face of its continuing failure to assert the country’s maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea as recognized by the 2016 decision of the International Arbitral Tribunal.

What defending sovereignty is Marcos talking about when he has not lifted a finger to end the Mutual Defense Treaty and unequal military treaties with the United States, and in fact, has acceded to the US plan to construct more military bases and facilities in AFP camps under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The Filipino people must oppose the Marcos government’s refusal to cooperate with the ICC, and push the demand for exposing the entire truth about the bogus “war on drugs,” and for Duterte to be punished for all his crimes.