Bersamin: No warrant vs Bato
Published Jul 20, 2025 01:22 pm
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has clarified that there is no warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa in relation to the previous administration's war on drugs.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin | Senator Ronald dela Rosa (MANILA BULLETIN/ Office of Senator Dela Rosa)
"Wala (None)," Bersamin said when asked if there was already an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa at present.
The executive secretary said in an interview on Sunday, July 20, that he was only stating that if there should be a warrant against Dela Rosa, the government will undertake the same process made for former president Rodrigo Duterte.
He explained that he was asked about the possible fate of other people who might be involved in the deadly drug war.
"So I had to answer very consistently that if there should be a warrant— I did not mention that there was already a warrant— if there should be a warrant, we'll probably do the same thing that we did in the case of the former president, if the warrant is coursed through the Interpol because we continue to be a member of the Interpol," Bersamin said.
"We are not going to do things differently unless the Supreme Court in those pending cases makes a different announcement about how we should proceed," he stressed.
The Palace executive stressed that there the Philippines actually has a law that allows the government to surrender anyone who is accused of crimes against humanity and human rights.
"Remember that it has been in the public domain after all, that we have a law actually that says that the government in crimes against humanity and human rights, we have this law that was enacted by our Congress that allows us either to surrender the accused, or whoever is accused of those crimes, or to follow extradition proceedings," Bersamin said.
He also lamented that the attributions given to the administration in connection to the arrest of Duterte was not fair on their part.
"So that is how it went at the time. The President's judgment was the surrender option was the better one. Nothing discriminatory that we will ever undertake. We're always clear about that, hindi kami (we are not) politically motivated. All those attributions to us were unfair," he said.