Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla inaccurately claimed that no other country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
During a Jan. 27 press conference on the decision of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to resume its investigation of the killings related to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, Remulla was asked if the Marcos administration is discussing the possibility of having the Philippines rejoin the Netherlands-based tribunal.
He said:
“No discussion about that plan… none, because in the ASEAN, I think … we just realized that there are no other signatories to the ICC in the ASEAN.”
Source: ANC official YouTube channel, LOOK: DOJ holds press conference as ICC allows resumption of PH drug war probe | ANC, Jan. 27, 2023, watch from from 14:34 to 14:45
Remulla repeated the false statement in a separate interview on GMA-7’s The Mangahas Interviews on Jan. 28.
Contrary to Remulla’s statement, Cambodia and Timor-Leste are signatories to the Netherlands-based tribunal.
Timor-Leste, although not yet a full-pledged member of ASEAN after being granted an observer status in November 2022, has acceded to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, and became a member of the international tribunal in September 2002.
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