The Philippine Supreme Court yesterday rejected a bid by Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa for a temporary restraining order to prevent his arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Dela Rosa, whose whereabouts are unknown, is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity over his role in a bloody “war on drugs” during Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016-2022 presidency.
Dela Rosa has denied involvement in illegal killings.
Photo: Reuters
Philippine authorities last week confirmed they were seeking to arrest the former police chief and top enforcer of the crackdown, who had argued in a petition to the court that law enforcement had no legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by a foreign court.
“The Supreme Court, in a vote of 9-5-1, denied the prayer for a temporary restraining order and/or status quo ante order filed by Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ M. Dela Rosa,” a court statement said.
Dela Rosa’s attorney said they would ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.
The court’s ruling is the latest turn in a dramatic story that has gripped the Philippines since early last week and paves the way for his arrest.
Dela Rosa last week emerged from six months of hiding and took refuge at the Senate for several days, before slipping away in the early hours of Thursday last week, after a night of chaos and gunfire following his appeal for help.
The ICC last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, accused along with Duterte and other “co-perpetrators” of the crime against humanity of murder.
Government agents tried to arrest Dela Rosa on the same day, but the pro-Duterte Senate leadership foiled the attempt and gave him sanctuary.
Duterte was arrested last year and is awaiting trial before the ICC in The Hague on charges stemming from the drug crackdown.
“For now, we can say that the warrant of arrest is valid against Senator Bato Dela Rosa,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s spokeswoman Claire Castro told reporters.
It was not immediately known whether Manila would try to enforce the arrest.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
Myanmar yesterday published a parliamentary bill proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce people into working in online scam centers. Internet fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s scam economy, targeting Internet users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons. The multibillion-dollar black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured by scam center operators. The draft legislation would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams.” The
RSS