Bato not the last; more ICC warrants coming

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is bracing for more arrests as director Melvin Matibag confirmed the bureau has received an intelligence report that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing to issue warrants for additional individuals, though he declined to name them.

“We have information that there are several individuals who will be issued warrants by the ICC,” Matibag told reporters in a forum yesterday.

The NBI, he said, has its playbook ready. Protocols are in place, the enforcement machinery is primed and, most pointedly, he said, no one would be spared.

“Whatever his crime is, as long as there is a warrant, we have a protocol. So if an additional arrest warrant comes out, we are ready to serve the warrant,” he said.

Matibag said the agency will avoid further discussions on the process to prevent the subjects from preempting the service of their warrants.

“That’s why we don’t want to discuss the process,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matibag has appealed to Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to voluntarily surrender and face the case against him in the ICC.

Best option

“That is why I am appealing to Senator Bato to voluntarily surrender and face the case in the ICC,” Matibag said during the Saturday News Forum.

He said the law will eventually catch up with the senator as law enforcement continues to search for him.

Meanwhile, Matibag said that in operations involving fugitives from justice, there is a presumption that the subject may be armed and dangerous.

He said he has directed NBI agents to exercise utmost caution during verification and arrest operations, particularly when intelligence confirms the subject’s presence in a specific location.

Don’t harbor fugitive

The NBI director said that individuals who help the senator evade arrest may be held liable for obstruction of justice and criminal harboring.

“It is the duty of every Filipino citizen who spots a fugitive like Senator Bato to report it to a law enforcement agency,” he said.

For a government official who helps a fugitive the penalty is substantial, depending on the degree of the offense, Matibag said.

“It is established that any crime committed by any member of Congress, if the penalty exceeds six years, is not covered by immunity from arrest,” he said.

Regarding the claim that Senator Robin Padilla was not the only individual involved in Dela Rosa’s escape from the Senate, Matibag said the matter was under investigation.