President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Tuesday the International Criminal Court could not acquire jurisdiction over him.

This was contrary to the earlier statement of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Duterte was ready to defend himself if the complaint against him before the ICC prospers.

"You cannot acquire jurisdiction over me, not in a million years," he said in a speech in Malacanang during the oath taking ceremony of the newly-appointed members of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission in Malacanang.

Duterte said when he was young, he did not even believe his mother. "What more to this (expletive)?" he said.

The ICC has started the preliminary examination on the complaint filed against Duterte for alleged crimes against humanity.

Lawyer Jude Sabio, with the backing of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, filed the complaint in relation to the killings of drug suspects in Duterte's war against narcotics. Celerina Monte/DMS