Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 16) — “Ingay lang [t’s all noise].”
Senator Ronald \”Bato\” dela Rosa dismissed former lawmaker Sonny Trillanes IV’s call for the government to cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s probe. This is in light of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s supposed admission that he used Davao City’s confidential and intelligence funds for killings when he was mayor.
\”Hanggang ngayon, iniingay niya pa rin iyang ICC niya. Ingay lang iyan,\” dela Rosa said on Monday.
[Translation: Until now, he’s still talking about the ICC. It’s all noise.]
In a tweet Sunday night, Trillanes said he has submitted to the ICC a video of Duterte saying “ang intelligence fund, binili ko, pinapatay ko lahat kaya ganoon ang Davao. Yung mga kasama ninyo, pinatigok ko talaga.”
[Translation: I bought the intelligence fund, I had them killed, that’s why Davao is the way it is. I had your companions killed.]
Dela Rosa said he has yet to determine the context of Duterte’s statement but stressed the former chief executive has a penchant for using figurative language.
\”Kilala man ninyo si President Duterte mahilig iyan sa figures of speech. Pumatay. Ano pinatay niya? Is it the person itself or the cause? Or the instrumentalities? Anong pinapatay niya doon?\” he added.
[Translation: You know how President Duterte is, he likes to use figures of speech. He killed. What did he kill? Is it the person itself or the cause? Or the instrumentalities? What did he kill?]
Trillanes, chairman of the Magdalo group, said in a 2017 complaint before the ICC that the so-called Davao Death Squad killed over a thousand people in Davao City on Duterte’s orders, while thousands more were killed under the bloody war on drugs.
“We, the Magdalo group, are urging the Marcos administration to allow the ICC investigators into the country in order to make ex-president Rodrigo Duterte accountable for his crimes against humanity. This is in light of Mr. Duterte’s recent public admission that he used his Confidential/Intelligence funds to conduct extra-judicial killings on his constituents in Davao City when he was still its mayor,” the group said in a statement on Monday.
