Philippine Secretary of Justice Fredderick Vida yesterday ordered law enforcement to apprehend Philippine Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a day after the Philippine Supreme Court denied his bid to prevent his arrest.
Dela Rosa, a former police chief and lead enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on drugs, would be tracked down and anyone helping him evade arrest would “face consequences,” Vida said.
“Senator Bato is a fugitive from justice,” he told a news conference.
Photo: AFP
Vida said that authorities had leads on the whereabouts of Dela Rosa, who is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity, but did not elaborate.
The senator’s lawyers this week said he was in the Philippines.
“We are pursuing this so that the ends of justice may be achieved,” Vida added.
Dela Rosa last week made a dramatic return from six months of hiding and took refuge in the Senate for days before slipping away in the early hours of Thursday last week, after a night of chaos and gunfire that followed his appeal for help and claim that his arrest was imminent.
Dela Rosa denies incitement or involvement in any illegal killings during the “war on drugs” of Duterte’s 2016-2022 presidency, when thousands of users and alleged dealers were killed either in police operations or mysterious slumland shootings.
Duterte, 81, is in detention in The Hague after his arrest last year and is to go on trial on charges of crimes against humanity. He maintains his innocence.
Vida said that the ICC’s warrant for Dela Rosa’s arrest, dated November last year and unsealed early last week, was enforceable despite the senator challenging its legality on the basis of the Philippines’ 2019 withdrawal from the ICC’s founding treaty.
Dela Rosa, a loyalist of the former president’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, maintained his high profile in the Philippines by running for the Senate after leaving the police, where he still has allies.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Jose Melencio Nartatez yesterday said the PNP had taken note of the justice department’s directive and would perform its mandate under the law, but stopped short of saying it would arrest Dela Rosa.
“The PNP likewise assures the public that all actions undertaken shall remain impartial, professional and within the bounds of the law, with full respect for the constitutional rights of all parties concerned,” Nartatez said in a statement.
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