Albayalde dismisses arrest rumors

Retired national police chief Oscar Albayalde on Monday said the rumors of his impending arrest on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant were pure speculation.

Albayalde succeeded Philippine National Police (PNP) chief now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who resigned in mid-2018. They have been accused of being the chief implementors of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that killed thousands of mostly poor people.

Following the arrest and extradition last week of their erstwhile boss, Duterte, on alleged crimes against humanity, talk has been circulating that Albayalde and Dela Rosa were next.

“Let’s just wait because all of this is mere speculation at this time. [Besides, the] ones saying this are just two people who are not connected whatsoever to the ICC,” said Albayalde in Filipino in an interview.

Albayalde was alluding to the lawyers of the alleged victims of the extrajudicial killings, one of whom is ICC Assistant to Counsel Kristina Conti.

“Those are not spokespersons. They are only counsels for the alleged victims,” he said, although he noted that preparations were underway to exhaust all legal means in the event a warrant is served on him.

No such orders

Albayalde has insisted that no illegal orders were given to the police at the height of the anti-drug campaign of the previous administration.

“We did not give any illegal orders. If the people heard something from former President Digong on TV, we did not issue such orders to the police force because we knew that we were law enforcers,” he said.

Albayalde said that “Oplan Double Barrel” only began drawing criticism after it became synonymous with “Oplan Tokhang,” which had a negative connotation.

The PNP came up with “Oplan Double Barrel” in 2016 under Dela Rosa as an anti-drug strategy aimed at eradicating illicit drugs pursuant to Duterte’s order to purge the menace within six months of his taking office.

The anti-drug operation was relaunched in 2017 as “Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded” before it became “Double Barrel Finale Version” in 2022 — all of which covered Duterte’s presidential term.

Despite the negative overtones of the term “tokhang” (knock and plead), Albayalde argued that the anti-drug operation was successful, claiming that 1.5-million drug-dependent individuals voluntarily surrendered to undergo drug rehabilitation.

Nonetheless, Albayalde expressed hope that both the government and the ICC would be impartial in any arrest and legal proceeding. He vowed not to resist arrest if the order were enforced.