The proverbial noose may already be tightening around the necks of personalities allegedly involved in Extra Judicial Killings (EJKs) that took place during the Duterte administration, as domestic and international authorities demand accountability.
On Thursday, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC) may have already contacted his office but they were ignored by his staff upon his instruction.
In an ambush interview as he was filing his certificate of candidacy (COC), the incumbent senator maintained that the international tribunal has no authority over him.
“Someone contacted the office but we ignored them… we know they have no jurisdiction here… We continue to ignore them, we don’t talk to them… we don’t pay any attention to them,” he told reporters in Filipino.
Dela Rosa pinned the blame on former senator and now Caloocan mayoralty candidate Antonio Trillanes III, whom he said, made serious accusations that were taken seriously by EJK probers.
“Soon after Trillanes came out with his accusations, we started receiving calls… I told my staff not to entertain them because they might be crazy people… who came up with European-sounding names,” he added.
The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief called on fellow senators to pass a law that would prevent the Philippine government from cooperating with the ICC, in an apparent attempt to establish a legal shield that would keep him out of the Hague-headquartered tribunal’s grasp.
As this developed, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the PNP are jointly digging deeper into the 2020 murder of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.
In particular, they are investigating the involvement of former PCSO general manager Royina Garma and NAPOLCOM commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, with an eye for reopening the cold case.
“We are coordinating with the PNP-CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) to find out [the participation of Garma and Leonardo]… so we can reopen this investigation,” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said on Super Radyo dzBB.
The statement came after Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers, who leads the House Quad Committee, urged the justice department to file murder charges against Garma and Leonardo.
This appeal was made after Police Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza testified at a Quad Comm hearing that Garma ordered the assassination of Barayuga while Leonardo helped plan the crime.
Some 6,181 individuals are believed to have been murdered at the behest of the Duterte administration as part of its supposed “war” on drug personalities, but some say that up to 30,000 people may have been killed, including those who crossed officials close to the former president.
