Ultimatum

If the government knows where Sen. Ronald dela Rosa is and is negotiating with the “powerful” armed group protecting him, why dangle a P50-million reward for information leading to his capture?

This is just one of the questions in the curious case of Senator Bato, who has been described as “armed and dangerous” by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.

The other question is why a powerful armed group outside the government – as described by Remulla – is allowed to exist in this country, and harbor a wanted man.

If the powerful armed group turns him in, will the group get the P50 million? That will be rewarding aiding and abetting a wanted person, which is a crime under the Revised Penal Code and Presidential Decree 1829 on obstruction of justice.

Penalties under PD 1829 include imprisonment of four to six years and/or a fine of P1,000 to P6,000 – chump change for the looters in government – but maybe the jail time serves as a deterrent.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla is under preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice on charges of violating PD 1829, for helping Senator Bato leave the Senate on May 14.

That powerful armed group – its leader/s and those who are directly involved in protecting Dela Rosa – should also be held accountable under PD 1829 and the RPC.

The only powerful armed groups legally operating in the Philippines should be the military, police and related agencies involved in national defense, security and public safety.

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Security officials say the armed threat posed by the communist New People’s Army has been significantly degraded. And the NPA will more likely execute Senator Bato, the architect of Oplan Tokhang, rather than shield him from arrest.

There is an armed group operating in Mindanao with the blessings of the government: the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has unilaterally paused its decommissioning process involving 14,000 combatants and 2,450 firearms. The actual number of MILF guns is likely higher.

The MILF stopped the final phase of decommissioning in July last year as it complained of the government’s failure to deliver promised socioeconomic packages to 26,145 decommissioned combatants for their transition to civilian life.

The government has explained that this will require approximately P14 billion, which the agency in charge of the peace process doesn’t have.

Because of the kid-glove approach of the Marcos administration, initial suspicion on the protectors of Dela Rosa fell on the Iglesia ni Cristo, which mobilized for indignation rallies amid the looming arrest of one of its own, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.

But the INC has since kept its peace and did not resume mass protests following Marcoleta’s arrest. The INC is known to have police and military officers among its members, but their combined firepower may not qualify for description as a powerful armed group ready for a bloodbath, as warned by Remulla.

Suspicion shifted to the MILF, or at least some members of the group, after Remulla warned that the bloodbath could be on the scale of the 2017 siege of Marawi and leave 10,000 dead.

But why would the MILF protect Dela Rosa? He’s not known to be close to the group or its leadership.

The other group with firepower, although much diminished, is the Moro National Liberation Front. The decommissioning of the MNLF was disorganized and also not fully completed, and the group has become fragmented.

MNLF founding chieftain Nur Misuari is known to be a friend of Dela Rosa’s patron, Rodrigo Duterte. Whether the Misuari faction qualifies as a “powerful armed group” willing to kill to protect Dela Rosa from arrest, however, is uncertain.

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Whichever armed group is protecting Dela Rosa, it reflects badly on the security situation in the country and the government’s capability to enforce the law and maintain peace and order.

Last Friday, acknowledging such observations, Remulla said the gloves are off and announced the P50-million bounty.

In case Dela Rosa is caught based on an actionable tip-off, they better make sure that P50 million does not end up in the hands of Dela Rosa’s coddlers.

Dela Rosa was given a week to surrender. What if he says, “make me?” Giving ultimatums can blow up in one’s face. The government now looks caught between a rock and a hard place.

What might happen if Dela Rosa doesn’t surrender? Uhm, they will continue hunting him down? Continue negotiating? Is the government now gearing up for a bloodbath resulting in 10,000 deaths?

President Marcos wants Dela Rosa arrested without violence, “quickly and aggressively,” no more negotiations, according to the government’s “treasure” Claire Castro.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief who also went into hiding from arrest, expressed hope that Dela Rosa would be apprehended peacefully.

We saw how Dela Rosa scrambled to avoid arrest at the Senate last May. An inevitable speculative scenario is that the “armed and dangerous” wanted man, if cornered, would resist arrest.

In the parlance of the war on drugs, that will constitute a case of nanlaban. Will Bato dela Rosa, like the thousands of drug suspects in the war that he waged, also be neutralized?