PNP to Bato dela Rosa: Honor peaceful search, warrant enforcement

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday urged Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to honor his former duty as police chief and ensure a peaceful outcome in the authorities’ efforts to locate and arrest him.

The call was made by PNP chief Police General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. in a statement, as tracker teams have been deployed to locate and arrest the senator, a former head of the PNP, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.

“We are appealing to Senator Bato’s enduring sense of duty as a lifelong law enforcer to ensure this legal process is resolved with the utmost dignity,” Nartatez said.

“Senator Bato knows better than anyone the weight of the uniform and the oath our officers take to uphold the law. Just as our men and women in uniform honor his legacy as their former top cop, we ask that he honor their current duty by cooperating fully,” he added.

Nartatez also said PNP’s operations are grounded “within operational protocols and human rights standards.”

“Our ranks maintain an institutional respect for Senator Bato as our former head of the PNP and it is precisely that shared respect for the badge that guides our approach,” the PNP chief said.

Nartatez also directed regional and local police units to exercise maximum restraint and avoid unnecessary escalation during an encounter with the senator.

“We are handling this strictly by the book, keeping communication open, and we strongly believe a peaceful and orderly outcome is entirely within reach,” the general said.

The PNP tracker teams are coordinating with the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation to locate and serve the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa.

On Friday, the PNP said the senator is still in the country after he once again disappeared following his reappearance to vote in a change of Senate leadership.

Dela Rosa was absent from the Senate for the past six months after learning an arrest warrant had been filed against him. He is under an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order.

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa for “alleged criminal responsibility as an indirect co-perpetrator” in the crimes against humanity of murder from July 3, 2016, until the end of April 2018, wherein at least 32 persons died.

The camp of Dela Rosa earlier maintained that although they recognize the existence of the arrest warrant issued by the ICC, they do not consider it enforceable in the Philippines.

The senator is included in the list of defendants on the ICC website after the tribunal unsealed the arrest warrant against him for crimes against humanity, identifying him as “at large.”

The ICC noted that he was a police officer who held various positions in the Philippine National Police in the Davao Region, the position of chief of the PNP, and the position of director general of the Bureau of Corrections during the relevant time period.

Dela Rosa’s whereabouts remains unclear after he left the Senate complex in the early hours of May 14. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA News