The National Bureau of Investigation is bracing for the possibility that additional arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court could be issued against several more individuals, with its director making clear that the agency will act on any such orders without hesitation.
“May information na tayo that there are several na mai-issuehan ng warrants ng ICC… It doesn’t matter who he is or who they are… Kung may lumabas na additional warrant of arrest, we are always ready to enforce and to serve the warrant,” NBI Director Melvin Matibag said.
Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa — already the subject of an ICC warrant over his central role in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs — remains at large. The Department of Justice has declared him a fugitive from justice, while the Philippine National Police confirmed Friday that all its units have been directed to locate and serve the warrant against him.
Matibag said the NBI believes Dela Rosa has not left the country. Coordination with the Bureau of Immigration and monitoring of known entry and exit points have produced no record of his departure, he said, though he acknowledged that not all borders can be accounted for.
“So, alam naman natin po yung parang yung ating geographical contour natin. Talagang there are lots of point of entries and exits sometimes that we cannot monitor. But we are getting leads every day na ang sinasabi is nandito pa rin po siya sa Pilipinas,” Matibag said.
Authorities are treating the search as a high-risk operation. Matibag said it is standard protocol to treat any fugitive as armed and dangerous — a posture made more significant by Dela Rosa’s background as a former PNP chief.
“Senator Bato came from the law enforcement, so alam niya how the law enforcement will think will work in order to catch him. But we want to arrest him without any delay talagang pag nakita natin siya, we will arrest him,” he said.
Matibag also shut down the possibility of serving the warrant through Dela Rosa’s counsel, Atty. Jimmy Bondoc. He added that investigators are looking into whether the senator is receiving assistance from other individuals or groups.
Senator Robin Padilla was among those Matibag called on to cooperate with authorities. Padilla had confirmed on Friday that he drove Dela Rosa to Makati on May 13 — hours after a shooting incident at the Senate complex — and dropped him off at an undisclosed location.
“It is Senator Padilla himself who confirmed na sa kanya sumakay, nakisakay sa kanya at ibinabahan niya sa isana lugar kung saan na kinuha,” Matibag said, adding that he expects Padilla, as a responsible senator and citizen, to voluntarily come forward with information.
A parallel inquiry is also being floated in the Senate. Senator Vicente Sotto III proposed that the Committee of the Whole look into the circumstances of the attempted arrest of Dela Rosa on May 11 and how he came to leave the Senate’s protective custody.
Legal experts, meanwhile, are pressing Malacañang for a clear and definitive position on ICC warrants. UP College of Law senior lecturer Atty. Ross Tugade said the continued ambiguity is fueling public unease.
“I think it’s high time at least for the executive to clarify what is its policy when it comes to the ICC… Mas nagiging agitated lang yung mga kababayan natin dahil nawawalan tayo ng kalinawan kung ano ba talaga yung stand ng gobyerno… Ano ba talaga yung polisiya niyo pagdating sa ICC?” Tugade said in a DZMM interview Saturday.
