The office of Senator Bato de la Rosa refused to formally receive a subpoena served by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on Monday, compelling him to appear at Camp Crame in connection with its ongoing probe into the Duterte administration’s deadly drug war.
Dela Rosa’s office told reporters that it “didn’t officially receive it because we are not authorized, and there were no instructions” from their boss, who has gone into hiding since November last year amid reports of an International Criminal Court warrant.
However, this was contradicted by P/Capt. Larry Ray, CIDG’s chief investigator, insisting that on their end, it was “deemed received” because the copy was left at the office, although the staff refused to sign the same.
“They accepted the copy, but they did not sign it because that was the instruction to them,” he told reporters in a chance interview. “On our part, it is deemed received.”
Ray, who delivered the document in question to De la Rosas’ office in the Senate, warned that the embattled senator will be cited for indirect contempt if he defies the subpoena.
Separate copies were also served by CIDG operatives at De la Rosa’s residences in Davao del Sur, the document showed.
The subpoena duces tecum compels De la Rosa to appear at CIDG’s office in Camp Crame at 10 a.m. on Thursday concerning its investigation into complaints of over 100 alleged extrajudicial killings during his tenure as Davao City police chief and regional director. DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla, however. clarified that this is a separate probe from that of ICC.
The subpoena also came on the heels of reports that operatives of the Interpol had already arrived in the Philippines to arrest De la Rosa on an ICC warrant. An ICC official was quick to debunk the speculations.
The ICC named De la Rosa as among the “co-perpetrators” by ex-president Rodrigo Duterte in executing the so-called common plan designed to “neutralize” individuals perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale, or production in the Philippines during his stint as Davao mayor and later as president.
The scheme involved systematic killings, torture, murder, and other crimes and was waged during Duterte’s stint as Davao mayor and eventually carried out nationwide after when the latter assumed presidency in 2016.
De la Rosa was Duterte’s PNP chief from 2016 to mid-2018 and was alleged to be the chief architect of the bloody drug war, which saw thousands killed, mostly from poor communities, based on the estimate of rights groups.
During the confirmation of charges hearing against Duterte in February, ICC prosecutors cited Memorandum Circular 16-2016 by De la Rosa, in strengthening the crimes against humanity case against the former president.
The memorandum outlined general guidelines and tasks of police offices, units, and stations in the nationwide conduct of the brutal anti-drug campaign, dubbed as “Project Double Barrel,” most commonly known as “Oplan Tokhang” under Duterte’s watch.