Bato: Trillanes, Romualdez in bid to get PNP officers to tag him, Duterte in ICC probe

Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency director general Ricardo De Leon have talked to retired and active police officials supposedly being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) special prosecutor, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa has said.

Dela Rosa told reporters that he had "A-1 information" that Trillanes and De Leon in the presence of Speaker Martin Romualdez and Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co asked the former police officials to execute affidavits to implicate him and former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Co is the chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations.

"I have a very, very reliable information, an A1 information na 'yung mga opisyal na 'yan ay kinausap. Ang nagdala sa kanila ay si General Dick de Leon, ang director general ng NICA kasama si Trillanes at andun sa kanilang pag-uusap, andun si Speaker Martin Romualdez at si Appro Chair ng Lower House na si Cong. Zaldy Co," Dela Rosa said. 

(I have reliable information, A-1 information that they talked to the officials. They were brought by General Dick de Leon, the director general of NICA, along with Trillanes. Also in the meeting were Speaker Martin Romualdez and the Appropriations chair.)

GMA News Online has sought comment from Trillanes and Romualdez, but they have yet to respond as of posting time.

De Leon denied pressuring police officials to testify against Duterte and Dela Rosa before the ICC.  

Co also said that in his meeting with Romualdez and Police Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., former head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, "there was never any mention of testifying against anyone before the ICC."

Both De Leon and Co said Caramat offered to reveal what he knows about extrajudicial killings and the war on drugs in exchange for being appointed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

De Leon said that Romualdez told Caramat that the appointment of the PNP chief depends on the president. 

“The Speaker also rejected Caramat's offer to disclose information in exchange for his appointment,” he added. 

Trillanes in late July said Dela Rosa and four other former and active police officials have been tagged as suspects in the ICC's investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

Aside from Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, also supposedly named in the document were:

• former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, 
• National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo
• Police Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., and
• Police Brig. Gen. Eleazar Mata

Asked if De Leon and Trillanes' move was ordered by the Speaker, Dela Rosa said, ""At sinong mag-utos sa kanila? O, sinong kasama nila doon?"

"Sila lang apat... Coincidence lang ba, na every time kinakausap yung mga tao na 'yun, nandoon silang apat? Silang apat nang kaharap?" Dela Rosa said.

(Who would have ordered them? Who was there with them? There were only four of them... Is it coincidence that every time they'd talk to the said people, the four of them are present? Just the four of them?)

Dela Rosa said the officers who were asked to execute the affidavits refused. —NB, GMA Integrated News