President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said he would convince other countries to also withdraw their membership in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In speech in Baguio City where he attended the Philippine Military Academy graduation rites, Duterte said there was actually no reason for the Philippines to "withdraw" from the Rome Statute since the treaty was not binding for failure of necessary publication in the government's Official Gazette.

"There is no reason to withdraw (to) something which is not existing... I only said 'withdraw' simply because to announce to the world and I will convince everybody now who is under the treaty, in ICC, get out. It's disrespectful," he said.

Duterte, who is a lawyer by profession, claimed that since the Rome Statute "is clearly a criminal law," there is a need for publication.

"If you read it, there is the commissioning of the ICC, the judges, then the ICC prosecutor and the definition of the crimes and the penalty attached to the crimes. Our rule in this jurisdiction is you publish it so that people will not be ignorant. If it is not published, you cannot tell me now that ignorance of the law (excuses no one)," he explained.

"It has to be published in the Official Gazette, which is the publication of the government. The president signed it, then it was ratified by the Senate then they went straight to the Rome agreement. They attached our membership without passing the critical publication," he added.

Contrary to Article 127 of the Rome Statute, which states that withdrawal from the treaty shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification, Duterte also said there was no reason to wait for a year for the effectivity of withdrawal since there was no existing law.

"If it is not published, there is no law. So there is no reason to withdraw something that is not existing," he said.

But according to the ICC, the proceedings against Duterte, who was accused of committing crimes against humanity due to his bloody war on drugs, would continue despite the country's leaving from the tribunal.

Duterte said the Rome Statute, creating the ICC and was adopted in 1998, was a European Union-sponsored to atone for its “past sins.”

“It is not a document that was prepared by anybody. It’s EU-sponsored. They went to Africa, they killed the Arabs, everything, the massacre here in Marawi, it is really an atonement for their sins,” he said.

Duterte insisted the court has no jurisdiction over him.

"I know my defense. As I said few days ago, you will never have jurisdiction over my person, not in a million years," he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS