By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) urged the Supreme Court to turn down beleaguered Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s plea to stop his arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his role in the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
In an 83-page comment dated May 16, the OSG said the country is committed to international law and to holding those responsible accountable.
“The law was never intended to provide an excuse for evasion, nor to become a weapon wielded only by those with power. It exists so that even the voiceless dead, whose cries never reached a courtroom, are not forgotten by justice. No amount of technical reasoning can disguise the absence of justice,” the comment read.
Citing legal precedents, the OSG noted what it said was Dela Rosa’s “conscious avoidance of lawful legal accountability”, calling him a “fugitive from justice” evading an international arrest warrant.
It said Dela Rosa’s acts of “flight and deliberate intent to evade prosecution should, thus, be taken against him, and should be considered a waiver of his right to adduce evidence and participate in the criminal case against him because a fugitive from justice loses his standing in court and is not entitled to seek relief from the courts.”
Dela Rosa appeared at the Senate last May 11 after disappearing for six months amid rumors of an arrest warrant from the ICC.
He was put under Senate custody and after staying inside the upper chamber’s building for several days, he fled on May 14, just hours after a gunfire incident at the Senate the previous night.
By doing so, the OSG said the senator placed himself outside the protection of the law.
“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,” it said.
Dela Rosa earlier denied wrongdoing and said he would only appear before a local court, saying an ICC warrant is not self-executing in the Philippines. (PNA)
