PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that the government was studying the possibility of returning to the International Criminal Court (ICC) amid calls for the Philippines to cooperate with the tribunal’s investigation into the previous administration’s war on drugs. 

The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute—the treaty that established the ICC—in 2019 after the Hague-based tribunal launched a preliminary examination into allegations of crimes against humanity in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature campaign. 

Marcos acknowledged that the issue of jurisdiction remains a challenge. 

“There is also a question: should we return under the fold of the ICC? So that’s again under study,” Marcos told reporters.

“We’ll just keep looking at it and see what our options are.” 

“But as I have always said, there are still problems in terms of jurisdiction and sovereignty. Now, if we can solve these problems, then that would be something,” he added.

In July, Marcos declared that the Philippines would not cooperate with the ICC probe ”in any way or form” as he asserted that the crimes allegedly committed in the course of the drug war should be prosecuted in the country. 

This was after the ICC Appeals Chamber backed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision authorizing the ICC Prosecutor to continue its investigation.

Some lawmakers, including those who belong to the Makabayan bloc, then urged the Marcos administration to extend its assistance to the ICC.

Marcos, a former lawmaker himself, said the filing of resolutions was not ”unusual.”

“They are just expressing or manifesting the sense of the House that perhaps it’s time to allow or cooperate with the ICC investigations,” the President said.

The House of Representatives began tackling the three resolutions on Wednesday.

Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the former president, urged the House on Thursday to respect Marcos’ previous pronouncements on the ICC issue.

”To allow ICC prosecutors to investigate alleged crimes that are now under the exclusive jurisdiction of our prosecutors and our courts is not only patently unconstitutional but effectively belittles and degrades our legal institutions,” she said. 

More than 6,000 people died in anti-drug operations during the Duterte administration, based on official data, but human rights groups claim that the campaign may have killed 30,000 individuals, most of whom were from low-income households.