DILG: Delay in Bato arrest hinged on local court order
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday said it could not immediately enforce the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa because of President Marcos’ order to await a local court order on that matter.
In a statement on Monday, the DILG said its “actions… were never rooted in an unwillingness to enforce the law.”
“While an ICC warrant had been issued, [President Marcos] earlier directed concerned government agencies, including the DILG and the Philippine National Police, to await the Supreme Court’s resolution on the enforceability of the ICC warrant absent a corresponding order from a Philippine court,” the department said.
The ICC had issued its arrest warrant on Dela Rosa in connection with his role as a “co-perpetrator” in the drug war of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained by the tribunal in its headquarters in The Hague.
It was the National Bureau of Investigation that attempted to enforce the warrant on May 11, but it backed down after the Senate took Dela Rosa into its “protective custody.” Dela Rosa left the Senate three days later and is back in hiding.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a key figure in pushing for the prosecution of Duterte and other drug war co-perpetrators, had criticized Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla for his agency’s failure so far to arrest Dela Rosa.
But the DILG said “Any enforcement remained conditional in light of the pending proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Senate’s decision to place Senator Dela Rosa under protective custody.”
“These are not acts of inaction but adherence to constitutional order, due process and the rule of law,” it added.
Marcos’ ‘disappointment’
Also on Monday, Palace press officer Claire Castro said Mr. Marcos was dismayed by developments at the Senate as these were unfolding on May 13.
“The President was trying to understand what happened. And I can see the disappointment in the President’s face. Disappointment not in the Cabinet secretaries, but [at] what [had] happened in the Senate,” she said.
Mr. Marcos, as Castro noted, is himself a former senator, having served one term before he ran and lost for vice president in 2016.
Meanwhile, lawmakers of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed House Resolution No. 1022 urging the lower chamber to press Dela Rosa to surrender to the ICC.
“Neither the Constitution nor the Rules of the Senate contain any provision authorizing the Senate to grant protective custody, institutional refuge, or immunity from lawful arrest or surrender processes pursuant to existing laws, treaties, or international cooperation mechanisms,” the resolution said.
In an interview with reporters, Kabataan Rep. Renee Co said “It is clear not only to the legal community, but to the people, that Senator Bato is running from the law.”
“He is already a fugitive,” Co said.
Activists of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates on Monday staged a protest outside the Senate, also calling for Dela Rosa’s surrender and denouncing the chamber for protecting the lawmaker in hiding. —WITH REPORTS FROM KENNETH CHRISTIANE BASILIO, DEXTER CABALZA AND ANDREA GREGORIO
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