THERE are different opinions about whether or not the Philippines should allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the previous Duterte administration's war on drugs. Some welcome an international probe, as only a fragment of the thousands of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and questionable police anti-drug operations that led to an unprecedented loss of lives have been investigated by local authorities. For personal or political reasons, people want justice or simply closure. Others, however, see the ICC investigation as meddling in Philippine internal affairs.

There is no need for the ICC to investigate whether or not crimes against humanity took place during the previous administration: every reasonably well-informed person knows it happened. We also know that policemen were involved in the commission of murder or extrajudicial killings. Aside from direct evidence, for instance — despite deliberate efforts to cover up and confuse — when policemen-assassins ended up dead, the scale of EJKs happening at a time when the PNP was more powerful and feared than ever makes it impossible to draw any other conclusion.