By Robina Asido

The Palace reiterates its position that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over the country despite the latter's decision to temporarily suspend its probe as requested by the Philippine government.

"We reiterate that it is the position of the Philippine government that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over it," Acting Presidential Spokesperson Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Saturday.

"This, however, does not preclude the government from communicating with the ICC, and it should be stressed that the government's communication to the ICC was conditioned on the fact that in making that communication the Philippine government was not waiving its position regarding the ICC's lack of jurisdiction," he said.

"In any event, we welcome the judiciousness of the new ICC prosecutor, who has deemed it fit to give the matter a fresh look and we trust that the matter will be resolved in favor of the exhonoration of our government and the recognition of the vibrancy of our justice system," he added.

The ICC chief prosecutor suspended its probe on alleged crimes against humanity committed during the anti-illegal drug war of the present administration, news reports said.

The Philippine government filed a request for deferral last November 10 citing the country's ongoing investigations on the killings related to the anti-illegal drug war. DMS