MANILA – The orphaned families long for the day when the perpetrators and co-perpetrators of the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines would be arrested and detained at the International Criminal Court.
Llore Pasco, mother of two drug war victims during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, said in a statement that former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief turned senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa deserves to be arrested alongside the former president.
“Bato deserves to be imprisoned alongside Duterte. Just like his boss, Bato ordered the killing of our loved ones without any remorse,” said Pasco in Filipino.
The reaction comes after the announcement of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has supposedly issued a warrant of arrest against Dela Rosa. The Department of Justice, however, said it has not received any information from the ICC regarding Dela Rosa.
“All of us keep hoping and never lose hope that the mastermind and all his accomplices will end up behind bars,” said Jane Lee, who lost her husband in 2017 during the brutal anti-illegal drugs campaign.
The ICC’s “Document Containing the Charges” (DCC) states that Duterte’s allies are treated as co?perpetrators—people who took part in a “common plan” to eliminate suspected criminals by force.
A Bulatlat explainer showed that Duterte supplied the political backing and the aggressive incentives, while Dela Rosa, then PNP-chief, created the official structures and made sure the policy was carried out through the state police machinery.
Read: How Sen. Bato Dela Rosa transformed Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric into a national policy
While the official confirmation is yet to be released by the ICC, Rise Up for Life and for Rights, an organization of families of drug-related killings and their supporters, said Dela Rosa’s arrest is long overdue.
“Bato is a true-blue DDS – Diehard Duterte Supporter and Davao Death Squad model implementer. He is clearly a co-perpetrator in the commission of crimes against humanity,” Rubylin Litao, Rise Up national coordinator, said.
Human rights group Karapatan also stated that the impending arrest of Dela Rosa is “way long overdue,” demanding that there should be no obstruction and no compromise in the implementation of the warrant of arrest should it be served by the ICC.
“If confirmed, the arrest should be implemented without delay. This would be a significant and long-awaited step toward justice for the thousands of victims of killings and rights violations committed under Duterte’s murderous campaign,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
In an interview with DZRH on November 8, Remulla said that the issuance of an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa is a matter of public interest. Meanwhile, Dela Rosa said in an interview with ABS-CBN that he is “prepared” for the circumstances when the ICC would issue the arrest warrant.
Ma. Kristina “Krissy” Conti, ICC Assistant to Counsel, said extradition cannot be applied for Dela Rosa, asserting that Dela Rosa should surrender to the ICC.
“Extradition is a bilateral matter between countries; the ICC is not a country,” said Conti in a post. “Surrender is a form of cooperation with the ICC—an international court—by both member and non?member states.”
She also highlighted that no personal immunity can exist before the ICC as even the head of the state can be subject to its arrest warrant. “So, Sen. Bato Dela Rosa cannot claim immunity because of his senatorial position.”
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said that the Senate can only protect Dela Rosa within the Senate’s premises: “Outside the Senate premises, that’s no longer our concern.”
On?July?1?2016—the day he took over as PNP chief—Dela Rosa issued CMC?No.?16?2016, officially kicking off the nationwide “anti?illegal?drugs campaign” that formed part of the broader “Common Plan.”
In the public redacted version of the prosecution’s application for warrant of arrest, the circular cited Duterte’s pledge to eradicate illegal drugs within his first six months in office and introduced Project?Double?Barrel, modeled on Davao City’s policing tactics.
Human rights organizations have recorded at least 30,000 victims of the government’s drug war campaign, the majority of the victims coming from poor communities. Government statistics meanwhile recorded at least 6,000 victims during Duterte’s term.
“Dela Rosa, who served as the chief architect and public face of the drug war, must be held accountable—alongside Rodrigo Duterte and all those who ordered, enabled, and attempted to conceal these atrocities,” Palabay said.
She added that Dela Rosa’s involvement goes beyond as a mere implementer but one of the principal architects of the Duterte government’s drug war.
“Dela Rosa’s record of human rights violations goes way back before his role in Duterte’s drug war,” said Palabay. “If the Senate shields him from arrest, it becomes complicit in harboring a criminal. There is no dignity in protecting perpetrators of mass murder and repression.”
Karapatan noted that Dela?Rosa’s violent track record began long before he wore the PNP chief’s badge. As a junior lieutenant in Davao City in 1986, he supervised the anti?communist militia Tadtad, a group notorious for beheading people accused of supporting communists.
In 2018, Dela?Rosa openly backed Duterte’s decision to scrap peace talks with the National Democratic Front and launch an all?out war against the New People’s Army. After Duterte endorsed him in the 2019 Senate race, he turned those hard?line policies into law—pushing to bring back the death penalty, make ROTC compulsory for college students, and cement the NTF?ELCAC anti?terrorism task force. He also tried to rewrite the Party?list System Act to bar progressive and “red?tagged” groups from running for office.
The families, through Rise Up, also demand the Senate not to block the arrest of Dela Rosa, saying that it could not be a “refuge of criminals and rights violators, mass murderers, and the corrupt alike.”
“We’re always ready for whatever comes next; we’ll keep speaking out—no matter how many times we have to— for the truth and for justice for our loved ones!” Pasco ended. (RVO)
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