00:00The palace has dismissed claims that the possible arrest and surrender of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court, or ICC,
00:09is a diversionary tactic to overshadow pressing national issues.
00:13The statement came after Davao City Mayor Sebastian Basté Duterte accused the administration of using the issue to divert public attention from concerns
00:22such as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's, or PhilHealth's, idle funds and regularities
00:28in the 2025 national budget.
00:30The palace responded that discussions surrounding the office of the vice president's confidential funds have seemingly faded,
00:37stressing new names have surfaced as alleged recipients of these funds.
00:42In addressing Mayor Basté Duterte's claim of their family being singled out,
00:46the palace maintained there is no political agenda targeted against them.
00:51Meanwhile, when asked why the former president was not investigated in the Philippines first before any potential ICC proceedings,
00:58the palace pointed out that in 2021, the Duterte administration itself requested the ICC prosecutor to suspend its probe into the war on illegal drugs,
01:08assuring it would conduct its own investigation.
01:11However, this was never carried out, prompting the ICC to proceed with its inquiry.
01:18Before this arrest and surrender happened to the former president Duterte, we will talk to PhilHealth.
01:24We already have one.
01:25We are not just releasing it because the issue now is about the ICC.
01:31People might not understand if we are talking about a different issue.
01:37But it will be easy to explain what happened to PhilHealth.
01:41As for the ICC, we will let it be because we are following the Enrolled Bill Principle.
