Former Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon has urged President Bongbong Marcos to restore the Philippines’ membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a TV interview on Monday, March 17, Drilon explained why it is important for the country to rejoin the Rome Statute, the founding treaty that formed ICC.

“So that it will settle the issues about jurisdiction but more importantly, so that if another Duterte comes up in Philippine politics in the coming years, at least if the justice system in the country cannot provide justice as we see today, then there is no question that another  body, an international court, can look at the situation in the Philippines like what the ICC is doing now,” he said.

The Philippines officially withdrew from the ICC in 2019 during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Last week, Duterte was arrested on an ICC warrant and sent to The Hague in the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity over his bloody war on drugs.IMT