Photo from Interpol website

MANILA — Any Interpol red notice related to the International Criminal Court investigation into the government's so-called war on drugs during the Duterte administration will not mean automatic arrest for the subjects of the notices, the Department of Justice said Saturday.

Speaking on Teleradyo Serbisyo on Saturday morning, Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said that the Philippines, as a member state, is generally obligated to cooperate with the Interpol but that this cooperation can be questioned in Philippine courts.

"Yung aspeto ng paguusig at pagpasok ng korte para tingnan kung tama ba o hindi, balido ba o hindi yang pag-implementa ng warrant, for example, or yung red notice mismo ay judicial process 'yan," he said.

(The court can step in and investigate if the manner of cooperation is correct and if the implementation of a warrant or a red notice is valid or not. That is a judicial process.)

According to the Interpol, a red notice "is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action" when a warrant or similar order has been ordered by a court in the requesting country.

"Member countries apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest a person," it also says.

Vasquez said Saturday: "Doon papaasok yung kuwestyon kung 'yan ba ay tama o hindi, 'yan ba ay isang krimen sa Pilipinas."

(That is when the question of whether the order is valid and whether the crime the subject of the notice is wanted for is a crime in the member country comes in)

He said that Interpol processes can be "abused" by a requesting state as a tool for repression, discirmination and political persecution, and that that is something a Philippine court might be asked to consider.

"'Yung mga parties involved can avail of our judicial processes," he said.

He added Interpol itself would also have to determine whether a request for a red notice falls within its mandate.

• DOJ: No info on ICC warrants supposedly out in September

There have been rumors that the ICC might issue arrest warrants for former President Rodrigo Duterte and other personalities in the bloody anti-drug campaign of the previous administration, but Vasquez earlier this month said the DOJ has no information on that.

He said Saturday that the government's position that it will not cooperate with the ICC since the Philippines already left the court in 2019 — in response to an inquiry into the drug war.

He added that representatives of international bodies are supposed to register with the government when they enter the country and that no ICC personnel have done that.

"Kung pumunta sila dito, ordinaryong tao lang 'yan," he said.

(If there are any coming over, it is as ordinary people)

• Ex-PNP chief Albayalde won't cooperate with ICC probe unless 'ordered' by DOJ

The DOJ has previously said it will not assist, but will not stop, the ICC from setting and holding interviews and similar proceedings with people in the Philippines related to its investigation. — Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News

RELATED VIDEO