Albayalde on 'impending' ICC arrest warrant: It's speculation until served

Retired police chief Oscar Albayalde stressed Monday that rumors suggesting an impending arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) remain pure speculation until it is official and served.

Albayalde succeeded then-Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa—who resigned in mid-2018—as the chief architect of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s infamous bloody war on drugs that saw thousands killed, mostly from poor communities.

Following the arrest last week of their erstwhile boss, Duterte, on alleged crimes against humanity, talks began circulating that Albayalde and Dela Rosa could be the next to be apprehended by the ICC, as they are labeled as “co-perpetrators” of the former president.

“Let's just wait because all of these are mere speculation as of this time…[Besides the] ones who are saying that are just two people who are not connected whatsoever to the ICC,” Albayalde said 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 Atty. Kristina Conti.

"Those are not spokespersons. They are only counsel for the alleged victims,” he added, although he noted that preparations are underway, including exhausting all legal means in the event the warrant is served.

Albayalde has insisted that no illegal orders were given to police at the height of the anti-drug operations of the previous administration—a stark contrast to prior pronouncements of Duterte that he had given law enforcement license to kill drug pushers.

“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 know that we are law enforcers.”

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

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

The anti-narcotics operation was relaunched in 2017 as “Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded” before it became “Double Barrel Finale Version” in 2022—all of which covered the tenure of Duterte as the country’s chief executive.

Meanwhile, “Oplan Tokhang,” or “toktok-hangyo,” which means knock and plead, was allegedly carried out in Davao City by then-mayor, now Vice President Sara Duterte.

It was adopted and became notorious during the time of former President Duterte in office for its violent execution, wherein the supposed visit of police to the homes of drug suspects to encourage them to surrender would lead to suspects being shot dead.

Authorities would eventually stage scenarios of “nanlaban” or that the drug suspects fought back or resisted arrest, forcing police to fire.

But despite the negative overtones of the term “tokhang,” Albayalde argued that the anti-drug ops were successful, claiming that 1.5 million drug-dependent individuals voluntarily surrendered themselves to undergo drug rehabilitation just in the first few months of former President Duterte.

Nonetheless, Albayalde expressed hope that both the government and the ICC would be impartial in his potential arrest and legal proceedings. He vowed that he would not resist arrest should the government enforce such an order.

The ICC, through Interpol, ordered the arrest of Duterte last week for alleged crimes against humanity related to his drug war.

The Philippines officially cut ties with the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, in March 2019 after the international tribunal opened an investigation into his anti-narcotics crackdown.

In a Senate inquiry in October last year, the erstwhile president admitted under oath that he encouraged police to provoke drug suspects to fight back as a pretext to kill them.

He, however, contended that police officers must be spared from liability and that he takes “full, legal responsibility” for the massive killings.