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Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is scrambling for assurances of protection as he desperately seeks to shield himself from the long reach of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The former national and Davao City police chief’s fears are not entirely unfounded. He is, after all, the chief architect of Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war that killed thousands of Filipinos. Oplan Tokhang, a component of Duterte’s drug war, was his brainchild.
Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11 and surrendered to ICC custody in the Netherlands on March 12. He is facing charges of crimes against humanity not just over his nationwide campaign when he was president, but also over the killings that happened in Davao City when he was mayor. The ICC investigations covered these periods when the Philippines was still a member.
Now, following his long-time boss’ detainment, the reelectionist senator pleaded with Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero not to surrender him. Malacañang, however, said that the government would implement the warrant if it is issued against Dela Rosa since it cannot be selective. Escudero, for his part, assured protection within Senate grounds.
All these discussions operate on the presumption that Dela Rosa will eventually be the subject of an ICC arrest warrant. There is no confirmation at this point of who might be named in future warrants or if any more will be issued at all. What is clear is that he was mentioned in reports from the ICC Office of the Prosecutor. Dela Rosa also earlier said that he ignored communications sent by the court.
In the meantime, let’s examine other instances when the ICC issued multiple warrants against different individuals over the same cases. If the court does move against Dela Rosa, past cases may offer clues as to whether his arrest would come swiftly or not.
Less than a month for heavy crimes
Rappler examined data on individuals currently and previously held at the ICC Detention Center as their proceedings unfolded. We focused on cases with multiple respondents to analyze the time gaps between the issuance of their warrants.
There are three cases that fall within these parameters. In two of them, the warrants against defendants were issued less than a month apart, while in the other, all warrants were issued on the same day.
Among those currently detained at the ICC facility, only Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona from the Central African Republic (CAR) are co-defendants in a single case. They face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes over incidents that happened between December 2013 and December 2014.
Yekatom, the former corporal chief of CAR’s Armed Forces and member of the parliament, is accused of murder, torture, persecution, forcible transfer of populations, and the enlistment of child soldiers. Ngaïssona, meanwhile, is the suspected “most senior leader” and the national general coordinator of the Anti-Balaka militia that carried out murder, rape, and persecution against Muslim civilians.
The arrest warrant against Yekatom was issued by the ICC pre-trial chamber on November 11, 2018. The warrant against Ngaïssona followed on December 7, 2018. This reflects a brief gap of only 26 days between the two warrants.
There was also a month’s gap between the prosecutor’s requests for a warrant. The prosecutor requested Yekatom’s on November 5, 2018 while the one for Ngaïssona came on December 7, 2018.
Let’s now examine ICC cases where those previously detained were named as respondents in the same proceedings. One of such cases includes former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and politician Charles Blé Goudé, who both faced four counts of crimes against humanity in relation to post-election violence between 2010 to 2011.
An arrest warrant against Gbagbo was issued on November 23, 2011, while one against Blé Goudé was released by the court on December 21, 2011. This amounts to a gap of just 28 days.
Both were acquitted on June 15, 2019, following a trial that spanned three years.
Another case involved Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Aimé Kilolo Musamba, Fidèle Babala Wandu, Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, and Narcisse Arido from CAR. All were found guilty of various offenses against the administration of justice related to false testimonies given by defense witnesses.
Their arrest warrants were issued on November 20, 2013, and stemmed from proceedings in a separate case against Bemba Gombo, who faced charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for incidents that happened between 2002 and 2003. Musamba and Kabongo were part of his defense team, while Wandu and Arido were his allies.
Although Bemba Gombo was ultimately acquitted of crimes against humanity and war crimes, he and his team were later convicted for offenses against the administration of justice.
Bigger picture of the ICC
The ICC has issued at least 60 arrest warrants since its creation in 2002. If one looks at the per-country situation, you would see significant gaps between waves of arrest warrants or summonses to appear issued against defendants. These are already a mix of individuals still at-large, already detained, or whose cases have been closed following either acquittal or conviction.
For example, in Sudan, the ICC issued the second set of warrants at least 677 days (one year and 10 months) after the first. In contrast, Central African Republic saw arrest warrants issued in rapid succession, with gaps of just 26 days, 3 days, and 28 days between them. This was also the case in the Ivory Coast where two sets of warrants were issued just less than a month apart.
As of March 20, at least 31 individuals remain at large or have yet to be arrested. In several of these situations, the ICC issued multiple arrest warrants on the same day,
An example are the arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out between October 8, 2023 and May 2024 in relation to the conflict happening in Gaza, Palestine. The warrants were issued on November 21, 2024.
The ICC also issued warrants of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin and commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova over alleged war crimes tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The warrants were released on March 17, 2023 and stemmed from the “unlawful deportation of [children] and that of unlawful transfer of [children] from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” – with reports from Lian Buan/Rappler
