PBBM: No decision yet on Afghan refugee request

He bristled at the possibility of the ICC investigators coming into the country.

“No. They won’t do anything here. They have nothing to do here. What are they going to do? Invade us? Do they want to come here just like a colonizer?” he said.

“We do not want other countries interfering with the justice system in the Republic of the Philippines. We are not a colony. We are also not a territory of other countries. It’s enough. We are a free country with our own system,” Remulla said.

The ICC’s Appeals Chamber is set to resolve on July 18 the appeal of the Philippines to stop the order of ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, which granted the request of the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor to resume its investigation of human rights abuses during Duterte’s war on drugs.

Remulla reiterated his earlier warning that should the ICC’s Appeals Chamber deny the Philippines’ plea, “the ICC is not welcome in the Philippines.”

“We are very hospitable people but if they interfere with us, we will not allow it because we have our own justice system, our own tradition, our own law enforcement, our own prosecution, our own courts that outsiders can’t interfere with or set aside,” Remulla said.

“‘They should respect our sovereignty,” he said.

Remulla said the ICC has allowed itself to be used by those with a political agenda in the Philippines.

“The ICC is for countries with no prevailing justice system and it is there they are needed,” he said.

“It is not to interfere in the established system of the Republic of the Philippines,” he added.

Earlier, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who was Justice secretary during the Duterte administration, said the country has no more available appeal if the ICC decides to deny Manila’s plea to stop its investigation of the killings arising from Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.

By Vince Lopez PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos

Jr. on

Monday said the government has yet to arrive at a decision on whether or not the Philippines would accept the entry of Afghan refugees as requested by the United States government.

“We’ll look at it very, very well before making a decision,” Mr. Marcos told the reporters in an interview dur-