Bato dela Rosa ‘ready to join’ Rodrigo Duterte in the ICC
Duterte earlier confirmed he was set to appoint Dela Rosa as as the next head of the Bureau of Corrections when the PNP chief retires on January 21 next year. KRIZJOHN ROSALES
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bato dela Rosa may be on the next flight to the Netherlands after expressing his desire to follow former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has been arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
When news broke that Duterte was being transported to the Netherlands to face trial at the ICC, staunch Duterte ally Sen. Bong Go was highly visible; even delivering pizza to Villamor Airbase, where the former president was detained.
Which begged the question: where was Duterte’s other loyal ally, Dela Rosa? After all, Dela Rosa was one of chief implementers of Duterte’s drug war.
While Dela Rosa has not publicized his whereabouts, he has now broken his silence. Duterte’s police chief said that he wanted to follow the former president.
“I am ready to join the old man hoping that they would allow me to take care of him,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa also made an allusion to the arrest of doomsday pastor Apollo Quiboloy. The Philippine National Police (PNP) had supposedly used a device to track his heartbeat underground in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) when they were searching for him in 2024.
“If all legal remedies are exhausted and still justice is to no avail, then I don’t want my family to suffer from cops looking for a heartbeat,” Dela Rosa said.
‘Sh*t happens’
Dela Rosa was the first PNP chief under Duterte who helped execute the bloody drug war. The end result was 6,000 people dead, with some believing that the number is as high as 30,000.
The drug war death tally is not limited to drug suspects. Police have admitted that there has been collateral damage.
One of the children who died was a three-year-old from Rizal, who was killed in a police operation in 2019 after her father “fought back” against police.
And what did the police chief turned senator say of the case?
“Shit happens.”
Dela Rosa has been named as a suspect in the ICC case by one of the petitioners, former senator Antonio Trillanes.
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