‘Tell us, if you want us jailed’

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said he would have no choice but to allow himself to be arrested if the Philippine government decides to cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Dela Rosa, the first chief of the Philippine National Police in the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, said he would cooperate with the ICC if the government would also cooperate.

“I’m just asking you to be frank… if you want us to go to jail, then tell us directly. Don’t be uttering something different from what you are doing. That’s all we ask,” he said, referring to the government under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Dela Rosa earlier said that Marcos had given him a “solid rock” assurance that the government would not allow the entry of ICC probers into the country.

He said that he and Duterte would surely be prosecuted over the war on drugs that resulted in from 12,000 to 30,000 deaths.

Official government data said only about 4,700 were killed during the anti-illegal drug operations.

“If they would come in and the government cooperates, we will be arrested and I would allow that arrest. But if the government does not cooperate, who would arrest us?” Dela Rosa said.

Dela Rosa was reacting to the claim of former senator Antonio Trillanes IV that ICC investigators had been in the Philippines last December to gather evidence and testimonies that would pin down Duterte.

Dela Rosa said that if Trillanes’ claim was true, then the government’s stance not to cooperate with the ICC may have changed.

He said that his non-cooperation with the ICC was in line with the Marcos administration’s stated stance that the “Philippines will not allow The Hague-based criminal court to enter and conduct an investigation in the country.”

“I told you I will not cooperate because our government will not cooperate too. Who would cooperate if no less than the President said he would not cooperate? He even prohibited the ICC from coming, so why would I cooperate? But if the President said we will cooperate, then I am bound by law. I will follow,” he said.

He said that Palace spokesperson in the Duterte administration Harry Roque will serve as his and the former president’s chief lawyer should the ICC investigation prosper in the Philippines.

“Being a citizen of this country, I am duty-bound and morally bound to obey the government,” he added, stressing the Marcos administration should inform them of the government’s current stance on the ICC.