By Lane Afable, News Editor
Pasay City Police Chief Col. Joselito De Sesto
denied escorting a black van that was believed to be carrying Senator Bato dela Rosa out of the Senate compound early Thursday dawn.
“The police mobile in question was not part of any convoy or escort operation connected to any personality,” Col. De Sesto said.
He said he was the passenger of the white police mobile that left the compound around the same time as the black van.
De Sesto said his exit was “purely coincidental” with that of the black van.
He said he has no information about the passenger or driver of the black van, and that there was no coordination or interaction involving the two vehicles.
As this developed, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Dela Rosa’s departure from the Senate premises could weaken the senator’s urgent petition before the Supreme Court seeking a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
“The recent departure of Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa from the Senate premises has triggered a significant shift in the legal landscape of his urgent Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order before the Supreme Court,” Macalintal said.
“The government can now persuasively argue that the ‘imminent danger’ cited in the motion for TRO no longer exists because the Senator is no longer under the Senate’s protective custody,” he added.
On its website, the ICC already listed Dela Rosa as a defendant “at large” for crimes against humanity in relation to the bloody war on drugs during the Duterte administration.
In February, Dela Rosa, Senator Bong Go, and six others were identified as “co-perpetrators” in the crimes against humanity trial of former President Rodrigo Duterte, documents released by ICC prosecutors showed.
Other individuals also identified as indirect co-perpetrators were former PNP officials Oscar Albayalde, Vicente Danao, Camilo Cascolan, and Isidro Lapeña as well as former National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran and former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.
According to the ICC prosecution document, “Duterte and his co-perpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production) through violent crimes including murder.”
ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018 as part of his “war on drugs.”
