ICC: No warrant for Dela Rosa

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday would not confirm reports of an arrest warrant for Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a key figure in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said the court does not comment on unverified reports and any official action or announcement would be made exclusively on the ICC’s website.

His statement followed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s claim that a warrant had been issued. The ICC’s clarification underscored that, as of now, there was no public confirmation of an arrest warrant for Dela Rosa.

“The ICC can’t confirm such news. ICC news can be found only on ICC official communications channels and press releases, where you could see that only one case to date has been opened — against Mr. Duterte,” Abdallah told reporters.

Neither Malacañang nor the Department of Justice has confirmed the warrant, although Remulla said over the weekend the information came from sources in the DoJ.

Despite this, ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti — one of the lawyers of the drug war victims — said Remulla was credible, given his previous post as DoJ chief.

Generally, ICC documents, including warrants, are made public, according to Conti. However, the prosecution may request that it be temporarily withheld from the public if they believe that publicizing it may jeopardize enforcement.

This case closely mirrors that of former president Duterte, whose warrant was only made public four days after it was issued — by which time he was already in custody.

Nonetheless, Conti noted that an ICC warrant for Dela Rosa would not come as a surprise, given the longstanding speculation that he would be next following Duterte’s arrest last 11 March.

Dela Rosa, who was Philippine National Police chief from 2016 to mid-2018, has been named a co-perpetrator alongside Duterte in the latter’s ongoing ICC case for crimes against humanity.

He was succeeded at the PNP by Police General Oscar Albayalde who allegedly continued the summary killings for which he might be included in the cases against Duterte and Dela Rosa.

The senator has long argued that the ICC has no business meddling in the Philippines, citing the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute — the tribunal’s founding treaty — in March 2019.

But last September, Dela Rosa retreated from his previous statements and boldly proclaimed that he was “ready” to be arrested by the ICC.

Invoking “institutional courtesy,” Senate President Tito Sotto said the Senate will block the service of a warrant inside its chambers. But outside the Senate, any developments are “no longer our concern.”