Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to depart from the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the exit of Russia, which was a directive signed by President Vladimir Putin himself.
The tough-talking and the enigmatic PH president has once again surprised his countrymen and the international community with his pronouncement last Thursday that he might follow the steps taken by Russia, after series of concerns and commentaries had been directed to the Duterte administration concerning the bloody war on drugs.
"I might follow [their lead]. Why? Tayo lang maliliit na binubugbog ng mga walanghiya [I might follow their lead. Why? These people only pick on small countries like us.]," ABS-CBN News quoted PH president as saying.
This declaration of the Philippine president is not something new. It can be remembered that in the past months, President Rodrigo also declared that PH will leave the United Nations after series of criticism has been attributed to his anti-crime campaign.
This time around, he publicly announced that the Philippines might leave the global war crimes tribunal, which the Philippines has become one of the signatories. Before departing for Peru to attend the APEC meeting, the popular Asian president announced his support towards the move of Russia, the same country which branded ICC as a failure in terms of being a true "independent, authoritative international tribunal," according to CNN.
As per ABS-CBN News, Philippine envoy Leo Tito Ausan is just waiting for the instructions of President Duterte regarding future relations with the ICC. Ausan also believes that the domestic authorities should be given time to do their jobs, and that the ICC should only intervene when local authorities are unable to perform their functions.
In retrospect, the ICC was created in 1998 through the initiative of the U.N. under treaty known as Rome Statute. And if, indeed, Philippines will follow the move of Russia and exit the crimes tribunal, the current more than a hundred jurisdiction of the ICC will once again be decreased.