DOJ: Manila has duty to cooperate if body runs after Rody, others in bloody drug war
Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said the country is duty-bound to help Interpol in case it serves an arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Duterte and others named in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the drug war deaths during the past administration.
“We respect Interpol’s actions 99.9 percent of the time,” Remulla said, referring to the International Criminal Police Organization that facilitates worldwide police operation and crime control.
“If a problem arises, they (ICC) will bring it to Interpol. We are members of Interpol, and we do not block any movement of Interpol unless a policy contradicts our international commitments. The future issue at hand now is that if a warrant of arrest is issued – it’s Interpol’s job to serve it, and we have a duty to Interpol,” he added.
Remulla said under the principle of comity, the government will not obstruct anything as long as it does not violate the country’s laws.
“The principle of comity dictates that we remain friendly and do not block any legal actions they undertake. If they engage in illegal activities, then we will not tolerate that if they violate our laws,” he said.
When asked what would constitute illegal actions, Remulla said: “If they arrest someone without the authority to do so, or usurp power, then we have a problem.”
“We are not in the business of blocking Interpol’s job, which is to fight international crime,” he added.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV earlier revealed that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked Interpol to put Senator Ronald Dela Rosa and other former and current police officials on “blue notice” amid the ICC’s probe into the drug war.
Trillanes posted on the social media platform X an alleged confidential ICC document tagging Dela Rosa, former Philippine National Police officials Oscar Albayalde, Edilberto Leonardo, Eleazar Mata, and former CIDG chief and current Northern Luzon commander Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. as “suspects.”
Dela Rosa dismissed Trillanes’ post, saying there was nothing new to it. Albayalde, on the other hand, said he is ready to face the ICC.
The ICC prosecutor can interview persons of interest in its investigation of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra earlier said.
Guevarra said the document posted by Trillanes was supposed to be confidential but Trillanes’ revelation forced him to make an explanation.
Government records show that some 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration but human rights organizations say that the actual number is closer to 30,000.
At the lower house, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez said the findings of the House Committee on Human Rights could serve as evidence in the ICC’s probe into alleged crimes against humanity by Duterte and his close associates.
Meanwhile, Remulla said the plunder complaint filed earlier this month by Trillanes against Duterte may find its way back to the Department of Justice from the Office of the Ombudsman for further evaluation.
“(W)e have to do some back-channeling with the Office of the Ombudsman so it will be returned to us and we can evaluate it before the prosecutor general returns it. That has to be coordinated,” he said.
“What happened was it was submitted by the prosecutor general without the Office of the DOJ knowing. Now, we are looking at it because Trillanes is filing evidence not included in the body of the complaint,” Remulla added.
Trillanes filed plunder complaints against Duterte and Senator Christopher Lawrence Go before the DOJ on July 5 in connection with the alleged anomalous award of 184 government contracts worth more than P6 billion.
In the 30-page complaint, Trillanes alleged that Duterte and Go facilitated corrupt practices in the awarding of contracts to companies owned by Go’s father and brother from 2007 to 2018.
