President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. reiterated on Tuesday that he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the Philippines.

In a press briefing, Marcos maintained that the government would not cooperate with the ICC in their investigation on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, even if a survey showed that more than 50 percent of Filipinos think his administration should work with the court.

“It opens a Pandora’s box because it’s still those questions of jurisdictions and sovereignty that I haven’t yet seen a sufficient answer for. Until then I do not recognize their jurisdiction in the Philippines. I cannot. That seems to be the only logical conclusion that you can come to in that situation,” Marcos told reporters on the sidelines of the 16th Ani ng Dangal.

Asked if he would change his mind once the ICC gathers more evidence against his predecessor, Marcos replied: “No. It’s not about the evidence, it’s about the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines. They can produce as much evidence as they want but they cannot act upon it in the Philippines. That’s the point.”

Marcos said he neither approves nor denies the presence of ICC investigators in the country.

“I don’t approve or deny. You know, they haven’t done anything illegal. Once they do of course, we will do something about it. We’re an open country, we’re not a closed country,” he said.

A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 56 percent of Filipinos believe that the government should cooperate with the ICC to investigate drug-related killings under the investigation.

According to the poll, 26 percent of Filipino adults strongly agree, 28 percent somewhat agree while 20 percent disagreed and 19 percent were undecided.

Of those that disagreed, 11 percent somewhat disagreed while 10 percent strongly disagreed.

The SWS poll was conducted from December 8 to 11, 2023 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide, with 300 respondents each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

In a separate interview, political analyst Ronald Llamas said that allowing the ICC to enter the country was one of the points of contention between former and incumbent presidents.

According to Llamas, if Duterte runs as a candidate in the midterm elections and wins but Marcos allows the ICC investigators to arrest him, his victory would be “moot and academic”.

“He (Duterte) has high ratings in surveys. But if the government allows the ICC to enter within the year, then him running and winning would be moot and academic,” Llamas said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS