Du30 arrest petition cites Bato’s role in drug war
Though not named in the warrant itself, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, chief enforcer of the deadly drug war that claimed thousands of lives, emerged as a repeatedly cited figure in the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution’s urgent application for former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.
Based on the 54-page document, of which specific details such as the identified “coperpetrators” of Duterte were redacted, Dela Rosa was cited as the former president’s “long-time ally” and Philippine National Police chief who, as early as 2012, developed Oplan “Tokhang,” where police knocked on the doors of alleged drug users and pushers and asked them to surrender, placed them on a drug watch list, and the listed persons were often later killed.
The publicly redacted version of the prosecution’s urgent application for an arrest warrant on Duterte was dated Feb. 10 and uploaded on March 13.
Duterte was arrested on March 11 upon returning to Manila from Hong Kong and flown that day to The Hague, where he was placed under the custody of the ICC to face the charges of crimes against humanity.
A day later, Dela Rosa, who was also among those accused of aiding and abetting mass killings in the ICC’s first case against Duterte in 2017, said he would first exhaust all available legal remedies in the Philippines, including seeking protection from Senate President Francis Escudero, before deciding whether to join Duterte in The Hague.
‘Next candidate’
The ICC document frequently mentioned Dela Rosa, first citing his role as Davao City police chief in 2012 when he developed and implemented Tokhang.
“Where police Davao Death Squad (DDS) members were the shooters in a killing operation, they would sometimes stage a nanlaban (‘fight back’) scenario, in which they would plant a weapon on the victim to make it appear as though the victim had been killed by the police acting in self-defense. Sometimes DDS members planted drugs on the victims to create a justification for their targeting of victims,” the document, signed by Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, read in part.
According to international law expert Rodel Taton, dean of the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Graduate School of Law, Dela Rosa’s role as PNP chief during the drug war “may become a subject of this situation under the ICC jurisdiction similarly with the arrested former president Duterte.”
“So the examination and investigations undertaken may reveal that he is the next candidate to The Hague,” Taton told the Inquirer in a Viber message.
ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti, for her part, said that the ICC prosecution’s repeated citation of Dela Rosa in the application for warrant could indicate that the senator was the “next in line as most responsible.”
Nationwide expansion
The prosecution’s arrest warrant application cited Duterte as being liable for crimes against humanity from Nov. 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, particularly in a shared “common plan” with his alleged coperpetrators to target suspected criminals, including those perceived to be involved in drugs, through murder, torture, and rape.
The names of the identified coperpetrators were redacted, but the prosecution noted that they included “other members of the PNP and high-ranking government officials.”
After Dela Rosa’s term, the prosecution noted that Duterte appointed Vicente Danao as Davao City police chief, a post he held from October 2013 to June 2016.
The “common plan” initially operated within Davao City through the DDS while Duterte was mayor.
Upon Duterte’s election as president in 2016, the prosecution said the plan expanded nationwide and evolved into a state-sanctioned antidrug campaign, commonly referred to as the “war on drugs.”
The DDS’ methods—killings, use of hit men, and reward system—were expanded into what the prosecution calls a “geographically broader campaign,” implemented by police, nonpolice assets, and barangay officials.
‘State-sanctioned’ crimes
“On 1 July 2016—the same day he was sworn in as PNP Chief—DELA ROSA issued CMC No. 16-2016, formally launching the national ‘anti-illegal drugs campaign’ component of the Common Plan,” the document said.
The memorandum circular, it added, set out Project Double Barrel, modeled after Davao City’s strategy and directed at the “neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide.”
While CMC No. 16-2016 cited the need to respect rights, the prosecution noted that on the day of its launch, Duterte made clear to the PNP that violent crimes committed in pursuit of the Common Plan were “state-sanctioned.”
The document noted that throughout his presidency, Duterte and other high-level officials repeatedly confirmed the existence and scope of the Common Plan through public statements, which both outlined and endorsed the killings.
“For example, in a speech to self-confessed drug addicts in Bacolod City, DELA ROSA told them to kill drug lords and burn their houses for having made them addicted to shabu,” the prosecution said, referring to Dela Rosa’s 2016 remarks to around 1,200 drug surrenderers.
Next to Duterte and Dela Rosa, other individuals mentioned include Danao; Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, but only in the context of governance during her term as Davao City mayor from 2010 to 2013; and former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, in relation to his public remarks saying drug suspects were “not humanity,” which echoed the administration’s hardline stance.
‘Extrajudicial confession’
Meanwhile legal experts deemed Dela Rosa’s March 11 petition asking the Supreme Court to stop the government from further cooperating with the ICC as premature and could even be considered an admission of guilt.
Lawyers Ruben Carranza of the International Center for Transitional Justice and Theodore Te of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law wondered whether Dela Rosa even had any legal standing to bring such a petition to the high tribunal because he has yet to be issued an arrest warrant.
“He’s speculating and in a way it’s almost like an extrajudicial confession of guilt that he’s about to be arrested and he doesn’t want the Philippine government to cooperate with the ICC and have him arrested,” Carranza told the Inquirer.
Te, also pondered on the petition at a recent UP College of Law forum, noting that the high court may consider the petition “premature.” —WITH A REPORT FROM KATHLEEN DE VILLA
