Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said that some people from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are now in the Philippines. These investigators are trying to make former police officers sign papers saying bad things about him and former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Bato was the police chief when Duterte was president, and during that time, the government had a strict war on drugs. Now, Bato is asking if President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. really wants peace with Duterte’s family. He says if Marcos is serious, he should send the ICC investigators away because they are scaring retired police officers.
Bato said, “If Marcos is really honest, the first thing he should do is tell the ICC people staying in hotels in Pasay to leave. They are frightening the retired cops and forcing them to sign papers that blame me and President Duterte. If they don’t sign, they themselves will be blamed.”
Bato, who won another term as senator, said he will start an investigation about this. He wants to find out who is making the police scared and forcing them to sign papers.
He said, “We know who the people are. We will have a hearing. Those Filipinos who are betraying our country will be held responsible.”
He explained that some police officers were called to a hotel where the ICC investigators scared them. The investigators said, “If you don’t sign this paper, there is another paper that will blame you for the crimes.”
Bato felt sorry for the police because they are being treated badly. He said the police should be protected and cared for.
He also said it is wrong to scare retired police officers. “Just because they are retired doesn’t mean they have no power or that their service to the country doesn’t matter. Now that they are retired, you scare them to make them sign papers? That’s not right,” he said.
Bato questioned why the Marcos government says the ICC does not have power in the Philippines, yet the ICC investigators are calling police officers to hotels.
He said, “They say ICC has no power here, but many police officers are being called by ICC investigators. What does that mean?”
He told President Marcos to be honest and send the ICC investigators away. He said, “If Marcos wants real peace, he should send the ICC people away because they are frightening our police to make them testify.”
Bato also said he is one of the main people accused by the ICC case against Duterte. He even asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from arresting Duterte because the Philippines left the ICC agreement called the Rome Statute.
