Bato dares Trillanes: Arrest me, make my day

Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN

ENRAGED Sen. Ronald de la Rosa challenged former senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday to join in serving the warrant for his and former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest to be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

At a press conference, de la Rosa took a dig at Trillanes’ announcement that a warrant of arrest for him and former president Duterte would be released in June or July.

“Trillanes keeps on talking about the ICC… come on… make my day!” he said.

De la Rosa said that when the warrant of arrest comes out, Trillanes should join in serving it and “handcuff me” himself.

Earlier in the day, Trillanes said that he expects a warrant of arrest to be issued against former president Duterte and others by June, in connection with the ICC’s investigation on the supposed extrajudicial killings in the former president’s war on drugs.

Trillanes said the information came from individuals “privy to the investigations being done by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC.”

“This will come in batches. The first batch is Duterte, the father. The second batch may be [Sen.] Bong Go, Bato (Senator de la Rosa), and Vice President Sara Duterte. Then, the third batch would be for some PNP officials and some other senior officials of the Duterte administration,” he said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had said that his government would not serve any arrest warrant from the ICC for former president Duterte.

Marcos also said he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines, adding that he considers it a threat to Philippine sovereignty.

But Trillanes said the ICC might push for the arrest warrant through the International Criminal Police Organization.

When asked about the possibility of Marcos changing his mind and eventually allowing the ICC to meddle in the country’s internal affairs, against the backdrop of the Senate investigation over leaked reports that the President had been a drug user, de la Rosa said he leaves his fate to God.

But he said he could not remain silent on the report based on the alleged Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confidential information leak.

De la Rosa said he is a “stabilizer,” and his actions do not contribute to destabilization, unlike Trillanes.

He also denied being asked by former president Duterte to investigate the suspected PDEA report.