DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa has run out of legal options to stop his arrest after the Supreme Court (SC) denied his petition last May 20 for a temporary restraining order that would prevent authorities from implementing the warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
With that decision, the Department of Justice has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to implement the arrest.
The senator and former Philippine National Police commander is facing charges in the ICC as co-perpetrator of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs campaign.
Dela Rosa is now “a fugitive from justice”, says Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida, describing the senator’s actions last week that found him resurfacing at the Senate after hiding for six months over reports of his arrest, only to slip off from protection of the Senate building at the dawn of May 14.
The senator filed the petition to the SC in that same week, as lawyers argued there are legal questions for the Philippines to effect an arrest issued by an international court without a local warrant.
Families of the victims of the drug war operations urged authorities to effect the arrest, calling this another step towards justice.
They also want the Marcos Jr. administration to act immediately. “The Marcos administration should not drag its feet in surrendering Bato to the ICC,” said Llore Pasco, a mother of two victims, in an interview with Bulatlat.
The families raised this case to the ICC through human rights lawyers, as they believed Philippine courts failed to prosecute authorities in the alleged summary killings of their family members without due process.
“This ruling is important. It affirms that attempts to block arrest through last-minute petitions and technical maneuvers should not be used to frustrate justice,” said Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, including ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago, and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said that the 230,000-strong PNP will be mobilized to search for dela Rosa. PNP Chief Jose Nartatez said the police force have also monitored possible exit points in case the senator attempts to flee the country.
Bato dela Rosa was a former head of the Davao City Police, and prided himself as one of the architects of the city’s ‘tokhang‘ operations, which served as basis for the nationwide anti-drug operation when he held the PNP national post starting June 2016.
Rights groups also revealed an early documentary showed dela Rosa in the mid-1980s was a police officer who headed the anti-communist vigilante Tadtad in his home province in Davao del Sur.(davaotoday.com)
