The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Sunday they are ready to provide any assistance to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) if there would be warrants of arrests issued against the “cohorts” of former president Rodrigo Duterte in his bloody war on drugs.
PNP spokesperson and Central Luzon chief Brigadier Gen. Jean Fajardo disclosed that there was no information yet regarding the matter, but assured the police force has a “template” in serving possible arrest warrants to other individuals linked to the drug war.
“First of all, we don’t want to preempt the process. However, we know that there are others also being charged apart from the former president. But since Duterte had already been arrested, we already have a template for what to do with others,” Fajardo told Super Radyo DZBB.
“This means that if there will be other arrest warrants issued and the Interpol asks again for assistance from the PNP, we are ready to provide such and we will implement this warrant in accordance with our existing laws,” she added.
Interpol and PNP authorities on Tuesday served a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) against former President Duterte for murder charges as a crime against humanity in connection with his deadly drug war that reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 6,000 people.
The ICC’s warrant covers cases filed between 2011 to early 2019 when the Philippines was still a State Party to the international tribunal, which the Supreme Court (SC) upheld based on a 2021 resolution on the matter of jurisdiction.
Duterte is currently held in detention at the ICC prison at The Hague, Netherlands.