MANILA – Detained ex-Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer – Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa – has locked himself inside the country’s upper chamber, where on Tuesday he appealed for the government to intercede on his behalf.
Dela Rosa, Duterte’s national police chief who had carried out his bloody campaign that killed thousands, came out from months of hiding Monday to join his colleagues in wresting control of the Senate, which will soon transform into a court to try the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Sara Duterte was impeached earlier on the same day, when an overwhelming number of House of Representatives voted to impeach her on corruption and charges she had hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, his wife and his cousin should she herself be slain.
But when dela Rosa arrived at the Senate premises, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation sought to arrest him under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC already has jurisdiction of Rodrigo Duterte in The Hague, where he will face a trial for crimes against humanity.
The heavy-set dela Rosa escaped arrest by outrunning the arresting officers, CCTV footage of the chase at the Senate’s stairwell showed. In one moment, the senator stumbled and appeared to hurt his fingers.
On Tuesday, he told reporters he planned to stay inside the Senate until the Supreme Court ruled on his appeal – that he be tried by a local court and not handed over to an international entity.
“President BBM, I am a Filipino. I am your constituent. I know you don’t have a personal grudge against me. I hope you will also protect me as a Filipino,” dela Rosa said in his message to President Marcos Jr, who is also known by his initials, using his nickname “Bongbong.”
He joined his colleagues during a plenary session on Tuesday, where he at times joked and smiled and appeared teary-eyed. He told reporters he would follow the Supreme Court’s order and that he was very sad about the turn of events.
But the amiable politician dela Rosa was far from his image as Duterte’s enforcer, where the ICC said it heard from witnesses about how the police carried out killings under both men’s orders.
Dela Rosa had sought refuge at the Senate on Monday night, appearing after months in hiding to join his allies in wresting control of the body in a deft political move to protect Sara Duterte.
The stunning developments are the latest political paroxysms in a simmering feud between the Dutertes and the Marcoses – the two most powerful political clans in the Southeast Asian country.
In 2022, Sara Duterte won the vice presidential election under Marcos Jr., who succeeded her father, Rodrigo Duterte, as president. The alliance was meant to protect Rodrigo Duterte from criminal prosecution for deaths that occurred during his drug war. But the partnership soured, and the former president was handed over by the Marcos government to the ICC.
The arrest warrant for dela Rosa, 64, was actually issued in November last year, at about the same time the ex-police chief last appeared publicly.
According to the arrest warrant, he is wanted in connection with his “involvement in a common plan that lasted from approximately 1 November 2011 until 16 March 2019 together with his co-perpetrators to kill alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production), which amounts to crimes against humanity” that left at least 32 people dead.
That figure is just a representation of the thousands believed slain during the campaign, which rights groups say could easily top thousands. The ICC had initially kept the warrant a secret, and only made it known to international bodies or competent persons who could affect the arrest. It unsealed the document on Monday evening.
Dela Rosa had often publicly said he was willing to be arrested and join his one-time political benefactor, Duterte, in The Hague.
The Senate leadership, who are now allies of Sara Duterte, has granted dela Rosa’s request for protective custody and said an arrest warrant must be issued by a local court, rather than the ICC.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the investigative arm of the Department of Justice, said the senator would not be arrested for the time being.
“Senator Bato will enjoy the protection of the law and the protection of the Senate in accordance with our rules and Philippine laws,” newly-assumed Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano said Monday night.
Dela Rosa’s lawyers had earlier petitioned the Supreme Court to stop any arrest, detention or rendition of their client to a foreign court.
Jason Gutierrez was head of Philippine news at BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA), a Washington-based news organization that covered many under-reported countries in the region. A veteran foreign correspondent, he has also worked with The New York Times and Agence France-Presse (AFP).
