The Department of Justice has acknowledged that it has filed an application for an Interpol red notice against Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, even as domestic law enforcement agencies were told to stand down while the Supreme Court resolves pending legal challenges.
DOJ spokesperson Atty. Raphael Martinez confirmed Thursday that the application had been submitted. “As far as I know, there is an application for the Interpol red notice… That is a remedy available to us,” he said.
Martinez had earlier stressed that the absence of a red notice does not diminish the government’s position on the International Criminal Court warrant against the senator, describing it as “valid and existing.”
The move comes after Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida announced that both the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation have the authority to execute Dela Rosa’s arrest based on the ICC warrant, which he described as valid and enforceable.
The Supreme Court, voting 9-5-1 during a special session on May 20, denied Dela Rosa’s petition for a temporary restraining order and status quo ante order that would have blocked his arrest under the ICC warrant. The court said it was not sufficiently convinced that Dela Rosa had demonstrated a clear and unmistakable right to the relief he sought, while directing respondents to file their comments and leaving the main petition pending.
The ICC warrant, unsealed on May 11, covers the crime against humanity of murder allegedly committed between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, during which at least 32 individuals were killed in the Philippines under then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war campaign.
The Office of the Solicitor General has branded Dela Rosa a “fugitive from justice,” urging the Supreme Court to deny all his legal maneuvers. “Until he submits himself to lawful authorities, he must be deemed a fugitive from justice and should not be allowed to seek any relief from the courts,” the OSG’s filing stated.
The high court noted that it has yet to rule on the central legal questions — including whether Philippine officers may enforce an ICC warrant without a corresponding domestic court order, and whether such enforcement is permissible given the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
