The Supreme Court has allowed the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to re-assume its role as counsel for government officials in the petition filed by former President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa questioning Duterte’s arrest and the Philippines’ cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC)

In its session on 3 December, the Court en banc granted the OSG’s Manifestation with Entry of Appearance, permitting the government’s principal law office to once again represent respondents.

The case stemmed from the petition filed by Duterte and Dela Rosa opposing the service of the arrest warrant on the former president and challenging the government’s coordination with the ICC, which investigated the alleged crimes committed during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

The ICC’s probe centered on allegations that the war on drugs resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings from 2016 to 2022. 

Prosecutors had identified the former president as the architect of the nationwide crackdown allegedly marked by systemic abuses. 

Dela Rosa, the first Philippine National Police chief under Duterte, was also potentially implicated as he oversaw “Project Double Barrel,” the operation that launched the campaign’s most violent phase. 

ICC prosecutors had signaled that De la Rosa could face charges for enabling policies that purportedly led to widespread and unlawful killings.