The Philippines has officially withdrawn from the International Criminal Court on Sunday. This comes after Manila told the United Nations that it was quitting the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal last year. Out correspondent Barnaby Lo has more from Manila.

BARNABY LO MANILA "Effective March 17th, 2019, the Philippines is no longer a member of the International Criminal Court or ICC. This, after the ICC opened a preliminary investigation into the drug war of President Rodrigo Duterte, and exactly a year after the Philippine government notified the United Nations of its intention to leave the ICC. President Duterte has repeatedly said that the ICC has no jurisdiction over what he says are internal matters, therefore, he will never submit to any investigation by the ICC or any international body. But, according to international law experts, the ICC can still continue with its preliminary investigation and can even elevate it to a full-blown investigation because cases of crimes against humanity were filed before the Philippines' exit from the ICC. However, the ICC can only use evidence from drug war incidents from when the Philippines became a member, which was in 2011, all the way to March 16th, 2019. Going forward, even if succeeding drug war-related incidents do yield evidence, the ICC can't use them. In any case, what experts and supporters of President Duterte have been saying is that without the state's cooperation, without Duterte's participation in the inquiry, there is little chance the cases against Duterte and other Philippine government officials that are before the ICC can prosper. And in fact, the ICC has had little success getting states to cooperate in cases it's handled and in enforcing decisions. For instance, there have been warrants of arrest for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for eight years now, and yet he's able to travel with ease. Having said all that though, now that the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, critics say the Filipino people have now lost an essential legal recourse. Barnaby Lo, CGTN, Manila."