On the evening of May 13, the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Jonvic Remulla, sat down, broke bread, and exchanged pleasantries with a fugitive senator and his coddler-colleagues.
Remulla said he was not at the Senate to arrest Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, even as a warrant for the latter’s arrest had been issued by the International Criminal Court. Dela Rosa was chief of the Philippine National Police during the early part of the Duterte administration and was the key implementor of the so-called war against drugs that claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Dela Rosa is now a co-conspirator of Duterte in the ICC case of crimes against humanity.
That evening, shots were fired from the second floor of the building – dozens of warning shots, it turned out. National Bureau of Investigation agents were prevented from arresting the senator at the Senate premises.
Dela Rosa had not been showing up for work despite collecting hundreds of thousands of pesos a month in salary. Two days prior to the shooting, he had the gall to show up at the Senate to cast his vote to install a new Senate leadership friendlier to his patrons, the Dutertes. He pushed two female NBI agents serving him his arrest warrant. He is the notorious tragicomic figure in that now-famous staircase footage, running for his liberty.
Remulla declared that Dela Rosa was “safe” after the sound of gunshots.
It was Remulla’s job to ensure Dela Rosa’s – and everyone’s — safety, yes. But there was a greater need to ensure the senator’s arrest. The warrant was valid, and Dela Rosa was milking the Senate for the protection it could give him, at the expense of justice.
Eventually, at dawn on Thursday, the inevitable did happen. When the compound seemed to have quieted down, Dela Rosa slipped out, aided by a fellow senator, Robin Padilla. Now Dela Rosa is on the loose again.
Why did Remulla pull his punches?
Organizationally, the NBI is under the Department of Justice. It is the Philippine National Police that is under the DILG. But such distinctions, in a case so notorious as extra-judicial killings in the guise of a campaign against drugs, should no longer matter. Agencies of the government must act in concert to enforce a legitimate warrant, and anything less is a gross dereliction of duty and a disservice to the Filipino people.
Remulla’s inaction reflects badly on the Marcos administration and the President himself, now being perceived as weak and indifferent to the case of the EJK victims. What happens when Bato is sighted? Will they share food and laughs with him again?
The Filipino people need clear signals on where the administration stands against crimes against humanity. In the end, it is not personally about Duterte, Dela Rosa, or anyone else. It is about personalities charged before an international court – not a foreign one as their supporters’ oft-repeated line – as having transgressed the laws governing conduct toward humanity.
And if anyone from the administration confounds and strays from this message, then their value as an alter ego of the President should come under serious question.
