Bato says calls for Marcos to resign are ‘useless’

Calling for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s resignation is “useless,” Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said Tuesday in response to the chants of some Duterte supporters in the Netherlands recently.

“Useless 'yan kasi hindi…talaga ‘yan bababa. Bababa ba 'yan kahit anong pananawagan mo diyan, bababa ba 'yan? Hindi man 'yan bababa,” Dela Rosa said in a phone interview with reporters. 

(That is useless because he will definitely not step down. Is he going step down? He will not, no matter how much you call for it.)

“Ewan ko lang kung makinig siya diyan. Makinig kaya siya diyan?” Dela Rosa added.

(I’m not sure if he will heed the call. Do you think he will listen?)

In a recent gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, where former president Rodrigo Duterte is detained on a warrant from the International Criminal Court, his supporters chanted, “Marcos resign!” 

Vice President Sara Duterte, who was present at the gathering, responded, “Kayo ang nagsabi niyan, hindi ako ah [You are the ones saying it, not me].”

“Bakit ba kailangan mag-resign? Dahil hindi mo pinapakita sa taumbayan na maayos kang mag isip at kaya mo ang mamuno,” she added.

(Why should you resign? Because you failed to show the people that you can think clearly and that you can lead.)

Sought for comment, Malacañang asked who would benefit from the President's resignation.

“Kung pinagre-resign po nila ang Pangulo, sino ba ang makikinabang [If they are asking for the President's resignation, who will benefit from it]?” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said.

According to the arrest warrant, the ICC pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe former president Duterte was "individually responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder" in connection with the killings blamed on his war on drugs.

It stated that the Duterte Death Squad (DDS) and Philippine law enforcement personnel under his leadership targeted persons allegedly involved in drug-related criminal activities.

Government records show that there were at least 6,200 drug suspects killed in police operations from June 2016 to November 2021, but several human rights groups have refuted this and say that the number may have reached as much as 30,000 due to unreported related killings.

Dela Rosa, one of Duterte's top allies, served as his police chief before winning a Senate seat in 2019. — BM, GMA Integrated News