The Marcos administration is taking a firm stance on the possible issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former police chief who oversaw the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Following dela Rosa’s recent challenge for the government to arrest him should the ICC pursue legal action—as it did against former President Rodrigo Duterte—Malacañang clarified that the senator will not receive any “special treatment.”
Speaking to reporters after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. departed for the United States, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin stressed that the government will act within legal bounds.
“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,” Bersamin said, referencing ongoing petitions questioning the ICC’s jurisdiction.
He also noted that if a warrant is issued and relayed through Interpol, the Philippines will act accordingly.
“If there should be a warrant, we will probably do the same thing that we did in the case of the former President (Duterte). [The same goes] if the warrant is coursed through the Interpol because we continue to be a member of the Interpol.”
Bersamin defended the legality of previous ICC-related actions, citing the country’s own laws.
“Legal” actions taken under Republic Act No. 9851—the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity—justify cooperation with international justice mechanisms.
“In our judgment, the President’s judgment was that the surrender option [of Duterte to authorities] was the better one,” he said.
He reiterated that political bias will not influence the administration’s decisions.
“There is nothing discriminatory that we will ever undertake. We are always very clear about that. We are not the ones who will make politically-motivated actions, or those attributions to us that we are unfair.”
As of now, the ICC has not issued a formal warrant for Senator dela Rosa.