Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa should also be “man enough” to face possible charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating the killings of thousands of Filipinos under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
For Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, Dela Rosa — who oversaw the anti-drug campaign as Philippine National Police chief — was only playing the victim and dodging accountability for the murders of drug suspects.
“[Dela Rosa] should be brave enough to face any possible charges or be held accountable,” Manuel said, a day after Dela Rosa called on President Marcos to be man enough to tell the truth about the supposed visit to the country of ICC investigators last month. Their presence was confirmed by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who told the media that the ICC investigators left after supposedly gathering enough evidence against Duterte and his co-accused.
“An investigation is not persecution,” said Manuel, a member of the Makabayan bloc, which has itself been at the receiving end of police and military investigations over their supposed links to communist groups.
“Sen. Bato is lucky because he is being given due process and the chance to explain unlike the thousands of Filipinos, mostly youth, who were killed in the fake war on drugs just because they were suspected by policemen,” he said.
Manuel claimed that Dela Rosa was afraid of the ICC investigation because he was aware of the weight of evidence against him and Duterte.
Dela Rosa himself had admitted in a television interview that he was afraid of being arrested and detained at The Hague by the ICC because he would not be able to see his grandchildren.
He also demanded that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. clarify whether he allowed the ICC to “violate Philippine sovereignty” by conducting an in-country investigation of Duterte and his aides, including Dela Rosa. Marcos later told the media that he did not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction and that the government would not help the international court “in any way, shape or form.”
Dela Rosa subsequently thanked him and said he was saluting the president “for that bold statement protecting our sovereignty.”