DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Legal experts and human rights advocates warned against turning the Senate into a “sanctuary” for Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, who has sought its “protective custody” from arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The senator and former police chief is facing arrest over his role as co-conspirator with detained former President Rodrigo Duterte over crimes against humanity for leading the bloody anti-drug campaign.
The discussion intensified after dela Rosa resurfaced at the Senate last Monday, May 11, after six months in hiding, as he took part in the Senate coup of pro-Duterte senators to wrest leadership.
The senator turned emotional as he addressed his colleagues how he had to evade agents of the National Bureau of Investigation who was serving a subpoena on that day. The Senate’s CCTV footage showed him running up the Senate’s fire exit evading some individuals in his entry to the Senate Hall.
Dela Rosa and his allies are now seeking Senate protective custody as they challenged the validity of the arrest.
But lawyer Mel Sta. Maria, former dean of Far Eastern University Law School, said allowing a person charged with crimes against humanity to be shielded inside the Senate would damage the institution’s integrity.
“If persons charged as co-perpetrators of crimes against humanity for murder and attempted murder is allowed to further stay in the Senate Building, the Senate will be the only institution under the Constitution that allows its offices as a hideout or sanctuary of people charged with one of the most horrible universal crimes,” Sta. Maria said in his Facebook post.
The former dean argued that no law explicitly exempts senators from arrest inside the Senate building.
“There is no law expressly providing a so-called ‘Senate Protective-Custody’ as an exemption to the enforcement of a warrant of arrest,” he said.
He added that this custody does not apply in cases involving crimes punishable by more than six years imprisonment.
Sta. Maria cited Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, which recognizes crimes against humanity as punishable offenses and allows cooperation with international tribunals under certain circumstances.
Human rights lawyer Kristina Conti, who is assistant counsel to the victims of Duterte’s case, also clarified that the Rome Statute followed by the ICC explicitly rejects immunity based on official position.
“When states drafted and approved the Rome Statute, they explicitly included a provision that official capacity and immunities that come with it are irrelevant when it comes to criminal responsibility before the ICC,” Conti said.
Article 27 of the Rome Statute states that official capacity as a head of state, member of government, or elected representative “shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility.”
The ICC warrant further noted that the Philippines remains under the court’s jurisdiction for alleged crimes committed while it was still a state party to the Rome Statute from November 1, 2011 until March 16, 2019, despite its later withdrawal from the treaty.
The ICC investigation covers alleged crimes committed during both the Davao Death Squad operations and the nationwide anti-drug campaign under former president Rodrigo Duterte. The court previously authorized a formal investigation into the Philippine situation in 2021 before resuming proceedings in 2023 despite objections from the Philippine government.
The ICC’s unsealed arrest warrant against dela Rosa alleged that the former Philippine National Police chief was an “indirect co-perpetrator” in crimes against humanity involving murder committed between July 3, 2016 and April 2018.
According to the warrant, ICC judges found “reasonable grounds to believe” that dela Rosa participated in a common plan to “neutralise” alleged criminals through killings carried out by police officers, non-police assets, and hired hitmen.
The document stated that at least 32 persons were killed during the period covered by the charges.
The ICC also alleged that dela Rosa used his position as PNP chief to enable and expand anti-drug operations nationwide, including through “Tokhang” operations first implemented in Davao City.
As of this writing, the Senate has to formally clarify their position if they would cooperate with authorities to enforce the ICC warrant. The new Senate minority has signed a resolution urging dela Rosa to “surrender” to authorities and let due process take its course on his case.(davaotoday.com)
