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Emmanuel Tupas - The Philippine Star
June 3, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing a contingency plan should the International Criminal Court issue a warrant of arrest for Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, the chief implementor of the bloody war on drugs of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
This was according to new PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III who declined to give details, saying “we’ll cross the bridge when we get there.”
At a briefing yesterday – his first as PNP chief – Torre said he did not want to speculate on what might unfold in the coming days.
“It’s hard to pre-empt what can happen. What if nothing comes up?” he said.
Torre explained that “it’s really something that has to be acted upon, when it’s already there. We’ll make decision as it comes.”
When he was the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Torre personally arrested Duterte last March in compliance with a red notice alert from the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol.
Dela Rosa was Duterte’s first PNP chief who implemented the early stages of the former president’s anti-drug campaign.
Also at the same briefing, Torre challenged former presidential spokesman Harry Roque to return to the country and face the qualified human trafficking case filed against him.
Torre maintained that since Roque is a lawyer, he is aware that the only way for him to prove his innocence is to face the charges against him in court.
“It’s something he has to face. Talking in the streets or joining rallies won’t do,” Torre said.
“You really have to come and submit yourself to the jurisdiction of the courts and make your arguments regarding your case,” he added.
Roque is applying for political asylum in The Hague in the Netherlands.
Judge Rene Reyes of the Angeles Regional Trial Court Branch 118 ordered law enforcement authorities to arrest Roque, Cassandra Li Ong and 51 others in connection with the alleged human trafficking activities at the Lucky South 99, a Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in Porac town in Pampanga.
Two of Roque and Ong’s co-accused were arrested earlier by the tracker teams of the CIDG.
Torre pointed out prosecutors had established probable cause, which prompted the filing of cases against Roque.
“The court was convinced of the information, that’s why they issued a warrant of arrest,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of Filipino migrants in the Netherlands has urged the city government of The Hague to look into a photo exhibit organized by Duterte’s supporters in his honor.
Filipino migrant group Balik/Bayan, a member of the Duterte Panagutin Europe Network, said the exhibit recently visited by Vice President Sara Duterte is an “insult to the memory” of the victims of the former president’s drug war.
“The exhibit displays the delusional proclamations of Duterte, such as his government being for ‘the helpless, the hopeless and the defenseless,’ and that he was ‘willing to go to hell’ so that the people he served ‘live in paradise,’” the group said.
“In fact, Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ killed thousands of defenseless Filipinos and made the country a living hell for the poor. The Dutertes continue to inflict pain on their victims in this heartless act of insult, sending the cruel message that the lives of their loved ones were disposable,” it added.
For the group, the exhibit located in one of The Hague’s prominent public spaces makes a mockery of the city’s branding as the “City of Peace and Justice.”
“We ask that the city of The Hague review how this exhibit was approved and take urgent action to ensure that public spaces are not used to flaunt the image of tyrants and human rights violators,” it said.
“Freedom of expression does not mean freedom to sanitize the crimes of a murderous regime, nor to trample on the dignity of victims and their families. No exhibit can erase the bloodstained legacy of Duterte and his family,” the group added.
Based on posts shared among Duterte’s supporters, the exhibit – titled “Rodrigo Roa Duterte: The President’s People” – was intended to be set up in various locations in the city. — Janvic Mateo
