Bato: House drug war probe conducted so it may be used against us at ICC

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said he believes that the House of Representatives' investigation into the drug war deaths during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte is being conducted so it can be used against them at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"Sinong nasa likod nitong mga committee na ito ay 'yung Speaker of the House, 'di ba? Alam ko this is the same person na nagkumbinsi sa mga opisyal na gustong bumaliktad, mag-execute ng affidavit laban sa amin ni President Duterte para sa ICC. I am expecting na itong ginagawa ng Quad [Committee] na imbestigasyon ay pwede nila itong gamitin laban sa amin doon sa ICC," Dela Rosa said in a phone interview on Friday.

(Isn't the Speaker of the House the one behind these committees? I know this is the same person who convinced police officials to turn against us and to execute affidavits against President Duterte and me for the ICC. I expect that the investigation being conducted by the Quad Committee will be used against us at the ICC.)

GMA News Online sought the comment of Romualdez’s office but it has yet to respond as of posting time.

Earlier this month, Dela Rosa revealed that Speaker Martin Romualdez, former Senator Antonio Trillanes, NICA chief Ricardo de Leon, and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co met with retired and active police officials to convince them to execute an affidavit against him and Duterte in connection with the ICC investigation on the previous administration's drug war.

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."

Espenido recruited?

He likewise believed that someone "recruited" Police Colonel Jovie Espenido, who played a role in the drug war, to testify at the House investigation.

"Bumaliktad siya kasi may nag-recruit sa kaniya. I don’t know kung anong laman ng recruitment niya, hindi naman ‘yan basta basta humarap doon kung walang mag-recruit sa kaniya, walang magkumbinsi… halata naman," the senator said.

(He turned against us because someone recruited him. I don't know what his recruitment package was, but he wouldn't have shown up if no one had recruited him, and no one had convinced him... it's obvious anyway.)

Dela Rosa, who was appointed by Duterte as the PNP chief to implement the drug war, hit Espinido for "lying."

"‘Yung kaniyang pagsisinungaling, tama na ‘yan sa package na ‘yan sa kaniyang pagbaliktad. Ang dami niyang allegation na napaka sinungaling eh. Eh ginagamit pa naman niya yung Bibliya para magsalita tapos puro kasinungalingan ‘yung pinagsasabi," he quipped.

(His lies are already included in that package of his deceit. He has so many false allegations that are utterly deceitful. What's worse is that he's using the Bible to speak, but what he's saying is full of lies.)

Among the allegations raised by Espinido, which Dela Rosa refuted, were the "quota" of visiting 50 to 100 households per day and the reward system, supposedly involves monetary incentives, for all drug war-related operations.

The monetary reward was allegedly sourced from profits of legitimate and illegal gambling such as POGOs.

"I swear to God, I never gave any monetary consideration, any monetary reward for any accomplishment na magagawa ng PNP lalo na 'yung sinasabi nila na kung sinong mapatay doon sa nasa narcolist ng Malakanyang ay binibigyan natin ng premyo. I never do that at hindi ako nagse-set ng quota," Dela Rosa said.

(I swear to God, I never offered any monetary incentives or rewards for any achievements made by the Philippine National Police, especially the claim that we give prizes to those who kill individuals on Malacañang's narco-list. I never do that and I don't set quotas.)

"Kasi 2016 pag-assign ko sa kaniya doon is never pa man heard ang pangalan na POGO. Hindi pa man yan sikat noon. Ako mismo ignorante pa ako kung ano ‘yang POGO at that time. So bakit ngayon iko-connect niya yan doon?" he went on.

(I have never heard of the term POGO when I assigned him in 2016.  It wasn't popular yet. To be honest, I was still ignorant about what POGO was at that time. So why is he connecting it to the drug war now?)

Dela Rosa then said he believes that Espenido's affidavit was "concocted, designed, and scripted to connect the problem of POGO to the supposed problem of extrajudicial killings."

"Mukhang napakalayo at halatang designed 'yung affidavit niya para ipagko-connect connect 'yung mga problema ng POGO, extrajudicial killing kuno at yung ating problema sa drugs," he said.

(It seems that his affidavit was deliberately designed to connect the dots between the problems of POGO, the alleged extrajudicial killings, and our drug issues.)

Espenido has faced homicide charges in the past over the alleged deliberate killing of drug suspects during police operations.

Two of the most high-profile cases where Espenido emerged as the central figure were the "Ozamiz 9" killings in June 2017 and the July 2017 pre-dawn police raid that killed Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, his wife, brother, and 12 others in July 2017.

Before this, Espenido was the police chief of the town of Albuera, Leyte when its mayor, Rolando Espinosa, was shot dead inside a prison cell in Baybay City in 2016.

Espenido is a recipient of then-President Duterte's Order of Lapu-Lapu award for his “extraordinary contributions to law enforcement.” — RSJ, GMA Integrated News