President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. remains firm in his position that the Philippines will not rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC), Malacañang said.

“Hindi nagbabago ‘yung stance ng Pangulo. Hindi pa rin po tayo ngayon magre-rejoin sa ICC,” Palace Press Officer Usec. Claire Castro told reporters in a press briefing on Monday, March 9, in New York.

Castro did not provide further details on why Marcos is not inclined to rejoin the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.

“’Yan lang ang binitawan sa akin na salita ng Pangulo,” she said when asked about the reasoning behind the president’s position.

The Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2018 under then-President Rodrigo Duterte, a move that took effect in 2019, after he cited what he described as “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” by the United Nations (UN) against him and his administration.

Duterte is currently in The Hague, the Netherlands, facing charges of crimes against humanity.

In 2023, Marcos Jr. said the Philippines’ possible return to the ICC was being studied amid calls for the government to cooperate with the court’s investigation into the country’s war on drugs.