Bato, 4 ex-PNP execs named in ICC investigation —lawyer

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court looking into the alleged killings linked to the drug war in the Philippines has named Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa and four former top Philippine National Police (PNP) officials as "possible suspects" in its investigation.

According to a "24 Oras" report by Mark Salazar,  human rights lawyer Kristina Conti, an ICC assistant to counsel, identified them during the hearing of the House of Representatives Quad Comm on Friday.

"Most recently, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court identified five possible suspects in the investigation of crimes against humanity in the Philippines," she said.

Conti said the five were Dela Rosa, former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, former PNP Intelligence Officer Eleazar Mata, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Romeo Caramat Jr., and former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo.

"Two of those who are named as suspects in the document, as of now it is verified," she said.

"In fact, the ICC is looking at a variety of actors even regional, provincial and city level directors in-charge of coordinating all operations on the ground. The working theory of the ICC is that these killings were under the instruction of a group in particular the Davao boys or the Davao group," Conti added.

GMA Integrated News is trying to get the reaction of the identified officials.

In July this year, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV made the same revelation and identified the five names, citing "documents."

On X (formerly Twitter), Trillanes posted a supposed redacted copy of an order by the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) naming Dela Rosa and the others as suspects in the ICC case against former President Rodrigo] Duterte.

"[T]he OTP (Office of the Prosecutor)  has reasonable grounds to believe that the following retired and serving members of the PNP have committed crimes within the jurisdiction of the OTP," the order on Trillanes' post read.—LDF, GMA Integrated News