After ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, his protégés—Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go—are most likely to be arrested next for the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the “war on drugs” and brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to former senator Antonio Trillanes IV. 

“Bato is sure to get it. Bong Go is almost there. If there’s a third one, it will most likely be General [Oscar] Albayalde,’’ said Trillanes, who is back in the country after his attendance at an ICC conference in The Hague in the Netherlands.

The warrants will be issued late this year if not early next year, the ex-senator told CoverStory on Thursday.  

“Their names should be there,” he said, referring to the document detailing the three counts of murder as a crime against humanity filed by ICC prosecutors against Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators.

Trillanes has been “facilitating witnesses and transmitting documentary evidence” to the ICC since he filed a communication in 2017 prodding the court to investigate Duterte for possible crimes against humanity. 

Go was special assistant to Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City, where he launched his crackdown on suspected drug users and pushers. As President, Duterte cast a wider net, with then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dela Rosa and, later, Albayalde, as chief implementors.

Dela Rosa and then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II were mentioned by the ICC prosecutors in their “pre-confirmation brief” explaining the specific charges against Duterte.

The defense team of the 80-year-old ex-president, detained at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague since March, has moved for his interim release. The ICI has indefinitely postponed his confirmation of charges hearing originally set on Sept. 23 to determine his fitness to stand trial.

A ‘cabal’ of personalities

Human rights lawyer and ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti said that as far as Duterte’s supposed co-perpetrators are concerned, the court is “looking at a cabal” of personalities.  

“There are at least three police officials,” she told CoverStory also on Thursday, citing the heavily redacted pre-confirmation brief. “There are three or four appointed officials, [including] one who is significantly close, one a friend. There are eight personalities, or eight entities at least, mentioned, and Bong Go could be one of them.’’  

Dela Rosa, then Davao City police chief handpicked by Duterte to head the PNP, ranks up there as chief implementor, Conti said. If the pre-confirmation brief was used as a basis, it’s clear he was “co-perpetrator alongside Duterte,’’ she said.

But until she read the pre-confirmation brief, she had questions about whether Go “rises to the level of most responsible,” Conti said.   

“Bong Go seems to have been involved in giving rewards,” she said. “If his role was cerebral, like how much to give and how to give, that’s possible. But if he’s a mere orderly or utusan, he could be in [the category of] aiding and abetting.”   

Dela Rosa, Go and Albayalde have maintained their readiness to face ICC investigation over the drug war.

The two senators were among those who voted Wednesday night in favor of the adoption of Senate Resolution No. 44 appealing to the ICC to grant Duterte house arrest on humanitarian grounds.

Citing Duterte’s advanced age and supposed deteriorating health, the 15 senators urged the court to designate a physician to examine the former leader and ascertain his fitness to withstand detention.

‘No effect’

The senators’ action was “expected,” Trillanes said. “They are politicians; they want to court the political base of the Dutertes which they see as fanatical voters. They don’t want to lose that when they run [for election] whether in 2028 or in the future.” 

“It has no effect,’’ he added. “[Duterte’s detention] can’t be undone regardless of what the Senate does, or even if they’re able to convince the Marcos administration to make a similar call to the ICC. It has no binding effect on the Pre-Trial Chamber.’’

The resolution was signed by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. Senators Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Rodante Marcoleta, Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, Sherwin Gatchalian, Loren Legarda, Erwin Tulfo, JV Ejercito, Panfilo Lacson and Mark Villar voted in favor of it. 

Senators Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros and Kiko Pangilinan voted against it. Senate President Tito Sotto and Sen. Raffy Tulfo abstained.  The other senators were not present during the voting. 

Conti called the Senate resolution a total failure—“semplang na semplang”—that could even backfire on the defense team’s move to get Duterte released to a third country.

“It’s just noise,” she said. “It’s irrelevant. It’s nothing for the defense right now. But it could be a basis for the prosecution to support its claim that Duterte still enjoys nationwide clout.’’ 

Trillanes sees the resolution as “part of a script” and a communication plan “to gain sympathy” from a section of Philippine society.

For Conti, it’s a “fitting end’’ to the narrative woven by Duterte’s lawyers and family about his state of health over the past months—from being supposedly “skin and bones” to being “cognitively impaired” and even to “falling unconscious.”

‘Absolution’

Even so, Conti said, she is “shocked” not only by the Duterte team’s ignorance of court processes but also its “absolution” of his crimes.  

“This is VIP treatment for someone who is on trial for very serious crimes and someone who has not shown remorse for his crimes,” she said. “This Senate resolution is something short of an absolution. It brushes aside the crimes that he’s being charged with.”  

According to the three counts of murder as a crime against humanity filed by ICC prosecutors against Duterte, he was an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the killing of at least 76 people in his “war on drugs” when he was Davao City mayor and, later, president. 

The Philippine government pegs the number of the EJKs at 6,000, but rights groups say the lives of as many as 30,000 mostly poor Filipinos were snuffed out.

Today, Oct. 4, the remains of eight of those killed in the brutal antinarcotics drive will be laid to rest in an inurnment at the Dambana ng Paghilom (Shrine of Healing) at La Loma Cemetery in Caloocan City. The ceremony organized by the Buhay ang People Power Campaign Network for the bereaved families also marks the closing program of the Justice for All drive calling for accountability for and remembrance of state-sponsored violence.

Meanwhile, the ICC’s Registry, which oversees the Scheveningen prison, said it lacks the authority to declare whether Duterte is physically and mentally fit to appear in court for the pre-trial proceedings.

The state of Duterte’s physical and mental health “really has to be determined by an expert, and ultimately, it’s the court who will say that he’s not fit for trial,” Conti said. “It’s both a medical and a legal construct.”

Read more: ICC charges Rodrigo Duterte as ‘indirect co-perpetrator’ of crime against humanity