Imee Probe Cited in Duterte ICC Challenge

Details from the Senate investigation conducted by Sen. Imee Marcos were among those that have been cited by lawyers of former president Rodrigo Duterte in challenging the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Philippine case.

- — With Roel Pareño

Part of the 38-page defense challenge was a claim that President Marcos "has impliedly accepted, for jurisdictional reasons, that former President Duterte should not be tried at the (ICC)."

To support this, defense lawyers Nicholas Kaufman and Dov Jacobs cited Marcos' letter to Vice President Sara Duterte, where he committed that the government would not "assist the ICC, in any way, shape or form."

A copy of the letter, dated Dec. 15, 2023, was presented during the Senate committee on foreign relations hearing led by Senator Marcos on March 20.

At the time, Marcos assured the Vice President that he remains "steadfast in (his) resolve that the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Republic of the Philippines after the effectivity of its withdrawal therefrom is very much in question."

"I am certain that all members of my Cabinet, including yourself, will echo my views on the matter," read the President's letter to the Vice President.

More than a year later, with the Marcos-Duterte alliance in shambles, the former president ended up detained in The Hague.