BATO is a hard stone to crack. We mean Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the early days of the Duterte administration. As chief PNP, General Dela Rosa administered the controversial Operation Tokhang against drug pushers and syndicates all over the country, resulting in significant arrests and also outrageous killings which became the ammunition of the Left, Yellow, and Pink in their collective criticism of the government.
Now a senator who have had three years of experience being the investigator rather than the one being investigated, Senator Bato bravely and emphatically said that he will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in any effort to investigate the bloody drug war launched by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
‘This intransigent stance
of the Philippines is worth
monitoring if it will hold.’
The latest news is that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan proposed the reopening of the probe last June 24. After this, the ICC formally asked the Philippines and the victims of so-called extrajudicial violence and killings involving drug cases and their families for their comments on the matter. The Court gave the Philippines until September 8 to submit its comments.
Dela Rosa considers himself as the No. 2 accused in this case, second only to ex-President Duterte. Interestingly, he has adopted the same defense Duterte has been telling the media and the public. The senator said he is not afraid of facing the ICC on the drug war issue. He said he just does not want to be tried by Western judges who “have no knowledge of the ongoing drug problem in the country.”
Senator Bato said: “Who are they to judge our working judicial system? Why are they infringing on our domestic affairs? Maybe they can come in if our justice system is not working but it’s perfectly working. I don’t see any problem.”
Meanwhile, we now hear the official government position on this issue when Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla said the country is no longer a member of the International Criminal Court and thus cannot be subjected to its investigation about the drug war killings. Remulla said the Philippines exited the Rome Statute in May 2019.
The ICC, meanwhile, debunked this, saying a country’s withdrawal from the court “has no impact on ongoing proceedings or any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective.”
This intransigent stance of the Philippines is worth monitoring if it will hold.
