Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said there is no arrest warrant yet from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa, who served as police chief during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
‘Wala ‘yan, until we see the arrest warrant and then there’s none,’ Remulla told reporters Thursday, October 2. (It’s nothing; until we see the arrest warrant, and then there’s none.)
‘I don’t think they want to leave the country. We will cross the bridge when we get there,’ he added.
Trillanes’ claim. On October 1, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who first filed the ICC complaint in 2017, said warrants are expected next year against Dela Rosa and Sen. Bong Go, both Duterte allies.
‘Yung warrant, ang ine-expect na lang natin ay dalawa. Isa kay Bato [Dela Rosa], isa para kay Bong Go.Ang estimate ko diyan, baka mga early next year pa,’ Trillanes said in a GMA News interview. (We’re expecting just two warrants now-one for Bato, one for Bong Go. My estimate is early next year.)
Tokhang architect. Dela Rosa, as PNP chief, was the chief implementer of ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ the operational name of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign. He said he is prepared should the ICC issue a warrant against him.
The government reports around 6,000 deaths under the drug war. Human rights groups say the toll could be as high as 30,000, most of them small-time users and pushers.