“I believe Bato de la Rosa should be man enough to face all the consequences of his actions when he was the C, PNP”
FOR the past several weeks, Senator Bato de la Rosa completely disappeared and has not been reporting for work.
The reason for this as we already know is all about the report that the ICC has already issued a warrant for his arrest in relation to the last administration’s war on drugs.
It appears this information is premature but, nonetheless, the good senator wants to play it safe by going underground.
Although work in the Senate has not grounded to a halt on account of his prolonged absence, committee work wherein Bato is a member somehow have been affected.
This is not the first time that a sitting senator facing legal issues has disappeared.
Senator Ping Lacson also went into hiding for over a year only coming out from hiding only when his legal problem was somehow settled.
Bato’s case is more complicated because the supposed arrest warrant to be issued will not be by our courts but by the ICC.
There is also the apparent silence and ambivalence of the government to say categorically what it intends to do if there is really a warrant or when a warrant will eventually be issued.
This being the case, what Bato de la Rosa is doing is understandable. Quite simply, he is afraid that if he will come out, the government could suddenly present an arrest warrant and do another “Duterte” on him.
But for the nth time, what exactly is the right procedure when it comes to red notices coming from the Interpol?
A red notice is just a request transmitted by the Interpol coming in this case from the ICC for the Philippines to look for and if found to provisionally detain an individual which in this case is Bato pending his extradition to face trial at the ICC,in The Hague.
This means that Bato must be given all the chances to challenge the warrant of arrest in our courts.
And if after the necessary court hearings have been done and our courts agree to his extradition, then and only then will he be transported to The Hague.
But if our courts will not agree, then Bato cannot be forcibly transported to The Hague. In the case of FPRRD as we already know, he was not given the opportunity to question the arrest warrant in court. He was immediately transported to The Hague where he is right now.
Our government kept using the red notice coming from the Interpol as the reason for FPRRD’s immediate transfer to The Hague as if the Interpol is regular operating police organization like for instance the FBI that can give orders to member countries.
The Interpol IS NOT A REGULAR POLICE OPERATING ORGANIZATION. It is simply a facilitator for all the 196 member countries with offices located at Lyons in France.
It does not have an office in the Philippines as some government officials keeps on saying and certainly does not have the authority to order the arrest of an individual.
It can only transmit a request. Some government officials who have been referring to the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime as the Interpol office in the country are wrong.
The OSETC is a Philippine government agency which among its other functions, receives communications transmitted by the Interpol.
Whether the government is completely ignorant of this fact or has chosen to simply ignore it in order to justify what it wants to do is hard to say.
But if it will just announce that Bato will be allowed to avail of all the legal remedies provided by law to question the arrest warrant in court, then the good senator will most likely come out from hiding.
I do not know Bato de la Rosa personally. I have never met him and also do not subscribe to his politics.
I also believe that he should be man enough to face all the consequences of his actions when he was the C, PNP.
But it is also the duty of the government to come out clean by being completely transparent and say exactly what it intends to do to maintain the credibility and integrity of our legal system.
If the government cannot do this, the next government if it happens to be unfriendly can simply exact revenge and the process will become a never ending cycle.
The government should therefore do what is right.
