Dela Rosa hits Remulla, Guevarra for contradicting gov’t policy on ICC

Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa | File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Monday called out Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra for contradicting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s policy on the Philippines’ relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating him and former President Rodrigo Duterte over drug war killings.

In a privilege speech, the former national police chief said the two senior government officials’ recent statements ran counter to the President’s repeated statements that the ICC lost its jurisdiction over the Philippines when it officially withdrew its membership from the tribunal in 2019.

READ: Time to cooperate with, rejoin ICC, Marcos urged

The senator noted that on Aug. 1, Remulla said the Department of Justice (DOJ) would not interfere should the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) arrest those named in the complaint filed by drug war victims with the ICC. Dela Rosa, Duterte and several other police officials are among the respondents in the case.

Before this, Guevarra told the media that the government “cannot stop” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan from visiting the country to investigate Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, which claimed the lives of thousands of mostly poor drug suspects.

“The pronouncements of those two executive officials are quite alarming,” Dela Rosa said.

“The secretary of justice is one of the many alter egos of the President [while] the solicitor general is the lawyer of the government. Are they challenging the policy set by the President?” he asked.

According to Dela Rosa, Remulla’s statements were “dangerous” as these would send a message to the public that the DOJ “cannot protect the rule of law.”

He also asked his fellow senators if they were “willing” to enact a law prohibiting any state agency from cooperating with the ICC.

“President Rodrigo Duterte and I are not afraid to face prosecution, even persecution. But let it be done by our own people—by the Philippine courts and the Philippine rules of procedure,” Dela Rosa said.

At the House of Representatives, a quad committee probing the link between Philippine offshore gaming operators and extrajudicial killings in Duterte’s drug war, the narcotics trade, and other human rights violations, adopted on Monday the invitation extended by one of the panels for Dela Rosa and Duterte to attend the hearings.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the dangerous drugs committee, and Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, public order and safety panel chair, separately said they would decide as a group on their next course of action should the pair refuse the invitation.

—WITH A REPORT FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE