President Marcos won’t follow Duterte’s bloody approach to drug war
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr plans to pivot away from his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody approach to the country’s drug problem, but still intends to protect his ally from any investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible crimes against humanity.
Marcos said he wants to run an anti-drug campaign that is holistic, focusing more on prevention and rehabilitation.
He said kids would be taught about the bad effects of drugs, while the government would give proper treatment to drug addicts.
“The war on drugs will continue, but we will have to do it a different way,” Marcos said. “In fact, right now, we are trying to formulate what is the best way for the rehabilitation programme. These are all being formulated”.
This is a stark contrast to the enforcement-heavy policy started by the Duterte administration in 2016. Duterte also pulled the Philippines out of the ICC in 2019 after it launched a preliminary probe into the thousands of drug-related deaths during his term.
The ICC then authorized a full investigation on the drug war in September 2021, but suspended it two months later, after Manila said it was already looking into the crimes.
Marcos said the ICC should step in only when the country’s judiciary is no longer functioning.
“The ICC, very simply, is supposed to take action when a country no longer has a functioning judiciary… That condition does not exist in the Philippines. So I do not see what role the ICC will play in the Philippines,” he said.
Marcos considers the Duterte clan his ally. His running mate in the May elections was Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, who is now the Vice-President.