Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Friday, January 27 expressed his belief there are some people who are indeed pushing for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue an investigation into the Philippines’ war on drugs during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Dela Rosa floated the idea when asked to weigh in on the ICC’s latest decision to resume its investigation into the controversial war on drugs launched by then President Rodrigo Duterte.
A former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Dela Rosa headed the so-called “Oplan Tokhang” that led to the deaths of thousands of drug suspects in the Philippines during the Duterte administration.
“Nakakasawa na, go ahead. Insisting sila. Ano kaya meron? Ano kaya meron bakit sila insisting (It's getting boring, go ahead. They insist. What is there to it? Why are they insisting)?” Dela Rosa pointed out in an interview on GMA’s Unang Balita.
“May motive behind ito. Kung bakit sila insisting. Merong nagtutulak sa kanila na mag-imbestiga na talagang gusto ibalik yung problema ng droga sa bansa (There is a motive behind this. Why are they insisting? Someone is pushing them to investigate because they really want to bring back the drug problem in the country),” the senator pointed out.
Nevertheless, Dela Rosa said the ICC is free to do whatever they wish to do, but insisted that the country’s criminal justice system is working.
“Sige lang, insisting sila. Pabayaan mo sila kung anong gusto nilang gawin. Kinaayawan na nga sila ng gobyerno natin, di nga sila pinapapasok dito para mag conduct ng investigation. Eh go ahead kung anong gusto nilang gawin (They just keep insisting. Let them do what they want to do. Our government does not like them, they are not allowed to enter here to conduct an investigation. So go ahead, do whatever they want to do),” he further said.
“Yung sinasabi ng ating gobyerno, di sila pwede mag-imebstiga dito ay dahil working ang ating criminal justice system. Eh pag pinapasok mo sila dito parang pinag sasampal mo sa mukha yung ating mga piskal at mga judges na parang wala silang ginagawa sa ating sitwasyon (Our government has said that they cannot investigate here because our criminal justice system is working. Well, if you let them in here, it's like you're slapping our prosecutors and judges in the face like they're not doing anything about our situation),” Dela Rosa said.
“Eh perfectly fine naman ang performance ng ating judicial system. Wala naman problema, bakit sila insisting? Ano kaya meron? Tanungin natin sila (But the performance of our judicial system is perfectly fine. There is no problem, why are they insisting? What is there to it? Let's ask them),” he queried.
In a statement released on Thursday, the ICC said that after careful analysis of the materials provided by the Philippine government, the Chamber is “not satisifed that the Philippines is underatking relevant investigations that would warrant a deferral of the Court’s investigations on the basis of the complementarity principle.”
Thus, the pre-trial chamber of the ICC granted its prosecutor’s request to resume the probe on the Philippines’ war on drugs during the Duterte administration.
It halted the proceedings last November 2021 following the Philippine government’s request.
Aside from the former president Duterte, Dela Rosa and several of his subordinates have been accused for being responsible for the deaths of thousands of drug suspects.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has also found it unnecessary for the ICC to conduct an investigation since the country has a “functioning judiciary.”