MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Monday, August 12, hit Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra over their recent statements regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into the Duterte administration’s controversial drug war.
In a privilege speech, the senator spoke about the ICC probe, which is personal to him, as he faces a possible arrest for being regarded as the chief implementor of the infamous campaign when he was the head of the Philippine National Police.
“While President Bongbong Marcos, being the chief architect of our foreign policy, maintained his position of not joining and not recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICC, we were surprised by the recent pronouncements coming from the Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin Remulla and the Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa was referring to Guevarra’s interview when the latter said that the country would not block ICC prosecutors from interviewing people allegedly involved in the Duterte’s bloody drug war. Meanwhile, Remulla, in his recent interview, said that it’s the International Criminal Police Organization’s job to serve the arrest warrant once it’s out.
“The pronouncements of those two executive officials are quite alarming. The Secretary of Justice is one of the many alter egos of the President, and the Solicitor General is the lawyer of the government. Are they challenging the policy set by the President?” Dela Rosa rhetorically asked.
Dela Rosa is holding onto Marcos’s statement in April that the Philippines will not recognize and serve any arrest warrant from the ICC against Rodrigo Duterte.
“Logically, with the new administration of President Bongbong Marcos giving importance to our national sovereignty, and with the President fulfilling his mandate to protect the people on all fronts, we can say that we have maintained the non-joining of the Philippines to the ICC,” Dela Rosa said.
The President has not released any statement regarding the ICC since April. But a lot of things had happened since then, including the departure of Vice President Sara Duterte from his Cabinet in June. Duterte’s exit signaled a complete collapse of the Uniteam alliance that brought the Marcos-Duterte tandem to victory in 2022.
In her statement on August 7, the Vice President hit the Marcos government’s foreign policy for allowing foreigners to “interfere” in the country’s domestics affairs, specifically on the issue of ICC probe.
“The Philippines, as a sovereign nation, should stand firm against foreign interference in our domestic affairs. However, the Philippines now quickly bows and complies with the demands and intrusions of foreigners, such as those from the ICC,” Sara Duterte said.
At the House of Representatives, lawmakers are probing the drug war-related killings under the Duterte administration. Dela Rosa believes that the ongoing probe is related to the separate investigation by the ICC.
Dela Rosa asks senators: Where do you stand?
Dela Rosa also urged his colleagues to discuss the government’s options should the ICC proceed with issuing an arrest warrant against him and the former president.
“At this point I would like to ask the members of this same august body. Where do you stand in protecting our citizens? Would you be willing to enact a Philippine version of the American Service-Members Protection Act to protect our citizens and our national sovereignty against those encroaching international bodies?” Dela Rosa asked.
The senator, however, maintained that he and Rodrigo Duterte are “not afraid to face prosecution, even persecution.”
“But let it be done by our own people—by Philippine courts and Philippine rules of procedure. Ang pananagutan namin ay sa ating mga kababayan at hindi sa mga dayuhan (Our responsibility is to our fellow citizens, not to foreigners),” he said.
Dela Rosa was coming from a standpoint that the ICC has no right to interfere in the domestic affairs of the Philippines.
The ICC prosecutor’s investigation covers the drug war until the country’s effective exit from the ICC in 2019, and the mysterious killings of the alleged Davao Death Squad (DDS) when Duterte was mayor and vice mayor of Davao City.
Under the Rome Statute, which Philippine government officials always invoke, the ICC can step aside if there is a genuine domestic investigation. Rappler has found that in the showcase 52 cases that the Philippines reinvestigated, out of 7,000 police killings and total 30,000 killings, most cases or 32 of them were closed with no further action. – Rappler.com