AMID ICC PROBE RESUMPTION

Dela Rosa: We pursued drugs campaign to save humanity from drug crisis

Following the resumption of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s probe into former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, former Philippine National Police Chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Saturday said he was not denying that abuses occurred in the drug war but noted that they waged it “to save humanity from the drug crisis.”

Dela Rosa, the national police chief at the height of the drug war under the Duterte Administration, said all those accusations against the former President were not true.

"Sasabihin ko sa kanila lahat ng akusasyon na nasa table niyo na dinala ng kalaban ni Pangulong Duterte ay puro walang katotohanan, ‘yun ang sasabihin ko sa kanila. Hindi ko dinedeny na may pang-aabuso pero dapat wag nyong ilump lahat ng kaso na yan as EJK (extrajudicial killing),” the senator said.

“Isa isahin ang kaso, papanagutin ang may kasalanan. Kawawa naman ang mga pulis na namatay, nasugatan. Ang daming pamilyang naulila. Ginawa namin yun to save humanity from crisis of drugs,” he added.

Dela Rosa said the justice system in the country was working, adding that the ICC should not interfere.

The senator said he was ready to defend himself anytime.

“Matagal naman na akong ginigiba, nung pa-Philippine National Police (PNP) chief ako hanggang tumakbo akong senador same issue pa rin. Pero alam ng sambayanan ang ginagawa ko kaya pinanalo nila ako. Ganoon ba ako abusado, siraulo, mamatay tao? Hindi naman, kaya nanalo ako. I don't think makakaapekto ‘yan,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Saturday said the justice system in the country must be strengthened whether or not there was an ICC probe.

“Dapat ang judicial system natin parati natin tutukan hindi lang sa ICC, importante ang ating judicial system,” Pimentel said.

“Hindi aasenso pag mabagal masyado ang justice system, mabagal, unpredictable pabago bago ang ruling, dapat may image na rule of law. Whether or not merong ICC kailangan tutukan natin ang ating justice system palakasin ito,” he added.

On Thursday, the ICC authorized the reopening of an inquiry into the infamous anti-drugs campaign under the administration of Duterte.

Duterte, meanwhile, said he did not care if the investigation into his war on drugs would be re-opened, insisting that the ICC had no jurisdiction.

The former president pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal's Rome Statute in 2018, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019 after the ICC began a preliminary probe into the allegations of state-sanctioned killings in his war on drugs.

The Philippines earlier called on the ICC not to resume its investigation into Duterte's deadly drug war, insisting the tribunal had no jurisdiction.

The official record of Duterte's war on drugs shows 6,181 people being killed in the war.

Several human rights groups, however, refuted the data and claimed the actual death stood at around 12,000 to 30,000. — DVM, GMA Integrated News