The Philippines will respond favourably if Interpol is asked by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants related to its probe into the former president's bloody "war on drugs", a top official said on Friday.

The Philippines will “respond favorably or positively” to a possible request from the Interpol to arrest personalities facing trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the deaths of thousands in the so-called war on drugs of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The Palace has made it clear that the Philippines is more likely to respond to requests from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) rather than the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The firebrand Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC's founding treaty in 2019 when it started looking into allegations of systematic extrajudicial killings, and the Philippines has until recently refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation,