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Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
May 25, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Law enforcement authorities will immediately enforce future warrants of arrest against alleged co-perpetrators of former president Rodrigo Duterte in his crimes against humanity charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC), a Palace official said yesterday.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro made the statement after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag disclosed that there are several people who would soon be issued warrants by the ICC after Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.
“So far, we have not received any information on whether there are more arrest warrants to be issued by ICC. However, it would not be surprising if there were, because there are many co-perpetrators mentioned by the ICC,” she told radio dzMM.
Castro maintained there is legal basis to implement the ICC warrant, citing the recent pronouncements by Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida and Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe.
Citing the solicitor general’s position, Castro said the ICC warrant against Dela Rosa does not need to go through a local court.
Castro referenced Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, which states that the government can turn over a person wanted by an international court or tribunal through extradition or surrender.
“It is an international court we are talking about here, not a requesting state. We are not violating any law. That is the government’s view,” she said.
Asked about former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Metropolitan Manila Development Authority general manager Nicolas Torre III’s remark that he is ready to assist the manhunt for Dela Rosa, Castro said she doesn’t want to preempt President Marcos.
“For now, the forces of the PNP, NBI and CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) seem sufficient. Well, anyway, every Filipino is welcome to help if ever they see a fugitive,” she said.
Meanwhile, Castro urged Duterte’s alleged co-perpetrators to surrender.
“If they are true Filipinos and true former public servants… in fact some were from the military and a PNP chief. They served as police officers. They should know what an arrest warrant means,” she said.
Castro maintained that the standing order of the President to law enforcement authorities is to follow the law and observe due process.
Drug war apologist?
According to lawyers of some of the victims of Duterte’s drug war, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s continued defense of the controversial government policy from the previous administration is another reason why the ICC must continue with its crimes against humanity investigation.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers slammed Cayetano for insisting that the bloody drug war was a “pro-life” campaign.
“Cayetano, current Senate President and Duterte’s former foreign affairs secretary, is the embodiment of a DDS (Duterte Diehard Supporter): self-righteous, inflexible and deliberately misleading,” NUPL lawyers Neri Colmenares and Kristina Conti said.
“His uncanny take about the ‘war on drugs’ as ‘pro-life’ is an outright disinformation and an absolute insult to the thousands of dead and their kin,” they added.
Cayetano on Saturday claimed that the “campaign against drugs is a human rights campaign,” echoing similar claims during the Duterte administration about the supposed impact of illegal drugs in communities.
Although he said that they do not excuse the “extrajudicial killings” reported during the campaign, he declined to “go into the merits and demerits” of arguments on whether it was a state policy.
Thousands were killed in the campaign, prompting the ICC to initiate an investigation.
At the ICC, judges recently ruled that Duterte must remain in detention, citing his recent statement that he does not recognize the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
“Non-cooperation with the ICC, especially at this point, denies victims and the Filipino people the due process and justice that they have long sought. Failure to enforce the ICC warrant against Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa will be disastrous for both of their cases, and particularly, any appeal for interim release,” Conti and Colmenares said.
OSG accused of wrong citation
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa’s camp has accused the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) of erroneously citing previous jurisprudence that specifically discussed the legality of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the authority of the ICC to justify the government’s current efforts to go after the senator.
“Respondents’ reliance on Pangilinan v. Cayetano is a category error. Pangilinan addressed the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute. It did not decide whether the Executive may enforce an ICC warrant in Philippine territory without a Philippine judicial warrant, without extradition or surrender proceedings, and without prior judicial authorization,” Dela Rosa said in his 117-page reply to the OSG’s comment on his manifestations before the Supreme Court (SC) on May 16.
He referred to the case filed by various personalities and groups led by Sen. Francis Pangilinan against officials of the Duterte administration, led by then foreign secretary and current Senate President Cayetano, and decided by the SC in March 2021.
The ruling dismissed “for being moot” the three petitions for certiorari and mandamus that challenged the Philippines’ decision to break away from the Rome Statute that created the ICC in March 2019, almost 19 years since former president Joseph Estrada signed the Rome Statute in December 2000 and less than eight years since the Senate ratified it in August 2011.
Dela Rosa’s camp argued that while the Pangilinan decision emphasized that the President has a say in dealing with foreign affairs, it “cannot be transformed into a power to arrest and surrender Filipino citizens” which rests with the country’s judicial system. — Janvic Mateo, Ghio Ong
