Bato appeals to Escudero: Don’t surrender me to ICC for as long as you can

Metro Manila, Philippines - While Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has expressed his willingness to join former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court, he is seeking more time as a free man, appealing to the Senate leadership for refuge for as long as possible.

“Hanggat kaya ng Senate President na kupkupin niya muna ako, na hindi muna niya ako i-surrender kung may warrant of arrest na [at] may session kami,” Dela Rosa said in a phone interview on Wednesday, March 12.

[Translation: As long as the Senate President can protect me, and not surrender me if an arrest warrant is issued while we still have a session.]

Discussing possible scenarios last August, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said a senator cannot be arrested while a session is ongoing. In 2018, when then-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV had his amnesty revoked by Duterte, he sought refuge in the Senate until a local court issued an arrest warrant.

“I hope respetuhin din siya ng executive branch of government kasi meron naman yang mga ganon na protocol,” Dela Rosa said.

[Translation: I hope the executive branch respects that as well because there are protocols for that.]

Dela Rosa had previously stated that he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC as a foreign entity, but now says he is willing to be detained at its facility in The Hague, Netherlands, “to join the old man… and take care of him.”

This was Dela Rosa’s first interview since talks of Duterte’s arrest circulated until the former President was flown to the ICC on Tuesday.

Dela Rosa, the first national police chief tasked by Duterte to implement the bloody war on drugs, denied going into hiding as a co-accused in the ICC case.

He explained that he received information about the ICC warrant late last week, when he was about to join Duterte in Hong Kong, and has since been focused on working with lawyers on their petition for a temporary restraining order to stop the arrest.

“Yung flight ko dapat hindi ko na tinuloy dahil nakatanggap ako ng info na yun nga may warrant na kami. Ang info nga is dalawa na kami ni President Duterte may warrant so sabi ko hindi na ako tutuloy… asikasuhin ko yung — di ba sabi ko sa inyo noon na pag may warrant kami I will seek judicial relief from the Supreme Court,” Dela Rosa said.

[Translation: I was supposed to cancel my flight because I received information that we already had a warrant. The information was that both President Duterte and I had a warrant, so I decided not to go… I’ll handle this – didn’t I tell you before that if we have a warrant, I will seek judicial relief from the Supreme Court?]

He added that he turned his phone off to concentrate on the petition, thus his inability to respond to media inquiries.

He stated that the petition was their only plan of action, dismissing reports that the former President tried to seek asylum in China, which controls Hong Kong, as “fake news.”

On Wednesday, Dela Rosa said he was “in the mountains of Surigao and Agusan” to campaign.

Meanwhile, he rejected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s pronouncement that the government had to fulfill its commitment to the international Criminal Police Organization or Interpol to serve the warrant from the ICC.

“Sabi niya sa akin noon, huwag kang mag-alala hinding hindi ako magcooperate sa ICC dahil after ninyo who’s next baka kami naman, yan ang sabi niya sa akin,” Dela Rosa recalled.

[Translation: “He told me before, “Don’t worry, I will never cooperate with the ICC because after you, who’s next? Maybe it will be us,” that’s what he said to me.”]

He said he now feels betrayed, pointing out how swift the Marcos administration was in handing over Duterte to the ICC without letting him face local courts.

”This government is so oppressive,” he said.

The developments at the ICC mark the culmination of nine years since the tribunal expressed concern over the thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the drug war, as well as deaths by the supposed Davao Death Squad when Duterte was city mayor.