Bato claims Marcos people allying with Reds, Yellows vs. Duterte

Officials from the Marcos administration appear to be in alliance with the Reds and the Yellows to pin down former President Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said on Friday.

The lawmaker said this in a virtual interview as he observed that the recent moves of some heads of government agencies appeared to be in harmony with the actions of the members of the Makabayan Bloc and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, whom he considers as an ally of the "Yellows" or the Liberal Party.  

"There seems to be, and I can really feel it, there is an alliance with this government, 'yung mga makakaliwa at mga yellow. Nagkakasama-sama na sila just to pin down the Duterte people," Dela Rosa, an ally of former President Duterte, told reporters.

His remark came on the heels of the ongoing House probe into the alleged links of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) to extrajudicial killings (EJKs) committed under the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

"Sinong ginamit nila para tirahin 'yung kuwan ni [Vice President Sara Duterte], intelligence funds ng Office of the Vice President at ng DepEd? 'Di ba 'yung mga Makabayan bloc? Sino ang ginamit nila para maghanap ng witness na bumaliktad, mag-execute ng affidavit laban sa amin ni Pangulong Duterte sa [International Criminal Court]? 'Yung attack dog na si Trillanes, ginamit nila," he expounded.

"So that seems to be an alliance between this government, the left and the yellow. Ang daming issues na nakikita natin na medyo nag-a-alliance sila. That's my only impression...my personal opinion," he added.

But what is not clear for Dela Rosa is whether or not President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was the one ordering his people to act against Duterte.

"I cannot categorically say na sa kanya nanggagaling ang instruction, but people around him are doing that. I don't know kung pinapaikutan nila ang pangulo o ang pangulo mismo ang nagbigay ng instruction na ganon ang gagawin," Dela Rosa said.

"You can just imagine yung kanyang NICA Director General na si [Ricardo] de Leon working with Trillanes to get an affidavit against Duterte para sa ICC. So that is his people... Pag sinabing people from this government that includes the Secretary of Justice (Crispin Remulla), that includes the Solicitor General (Menardo Guevarra) na parang nagbabago ang stand nila as against to the very firm stand ng presidente na sinasabi niyang policy statement as far as ICC is concerned," he added.

"I just don't know what's behind the scenes," he said.

Asked to react, Guevarra told GMA News Online, "I don't comment on political statements."

"As far as the president and the OSG are concerned, there has been no change in their common legal position that the ICC could no longer exercise its jurisdiction over the Philippine situation after the effectivity of the country's withdrawal from the ICC," he said.

"For that reason, the Philippine government has no legal duty to lend any assistance to the ICC prosecutor," Guevarra added.

GMA News Online also sought the reaction of the Makabayan Bloc and Remulla and will post them as soon as available.

In a privilege speech earlier this week, Dela Rosa questioned the latest remarks of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra about the developments in the ICC investigation on the Duterte administration's drug war.

Last week, Dela Rosa also divulged that Trillanes and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Ricardo De Leon have talked to retired and active police officials supposedly being investigated by the ICC.

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 Duterte.

Trillanes did not categorically deny Dela Rosa's claim and said that he has been trying to convince witnesses to testify against him and Duterte since 2017.

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

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

Both De Leon and Co said Caramat offered to reveal what he knew about extrajudicial killings and the war on drugs in exchange for being appointed PNP Chief.

Meanwhile, Dela Rosa expressed hope that the Senate will uphold its independence as a co-equal body of the government should Malacañaang allow the issuance of a warrant of arrest from the ICC against him.

The senator said he is hoping the Senate would "reflect" its true identity as the "last bastion of democracy" of the Philippines.

"Dapat manindigan ang Senado as a separate and independent entity...Hindi naman sa hindi papayag na hindi maaresto. Just in case, worse comes to worse, kung ang Malacañang ay ultimately mag-decide otherwise from what we are expecting, I hope that the Senate will not bow down its head to the Executive Branch of government," he added.

Dela Rosa said he has not discussed this to Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero yet but he is "expecting" the latter to "protect the integrity of the institution."

Up to now, Dela Rosa said he is "holding responsible" Marcos for every declaration he made regarding foreign policy matters, specifically on his stand on the ICC.

“Bakit ako mas maniniwala sa kanyang underlings who are trying to subvert his policy?” he said.

Duterte and other top officials of his administration are already being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his violent drug war that left thousands dead.

Official police records peg the number of drug war fatalities to 6,000, but human rights groups contend that the number could reach as much as 30,000, including vigilante killings.

Duterte and Dela Rosa have insisted that the Philippines is not under ICC jurisdiction due to Manila's unilateral withdrawal from the Rome Statute in March 2019.

President Marcos has consistently stated that he will not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC in the Philippines.

Marcos also said his government would not serve any arrest warrant from the ICC against former President Duterte.—LDF, GMA Integrated News