Philippine President Rejects to Cooperate with ICC in War on Drugs Probe

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that his country will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

Marcos stressed that he decided to protect the country's sovereignty, saying, "We will not cooperate with the investigation, and we will continue to defend the sovereignty of the Philippines and continue to question the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in its investigations," according to the Philippine "ABS-CBN".

The Philippine government had expressed its disappointment over the International Criminal Court's rejection of the appeal of the decision to reopen the investigation into the "Philippine war on drugs" that left thousands dead, and its ruling to continue the investigation into the murders during the war launched by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

In the official appeal memorandum submitted by the International Criminal Court to the Appeals Chamber of the ICC, the Philippine government requested to suspend the ruling requiring the reopening of the investigation, and not to allow the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to resume its investigations in the Philippines.