ASEANEWS HEADLINE-DU30’S ICC-EJK CASE | MANILA, Philippines: Palace to Dela Rosa, Go: Don’t hide, face charges at ICC

Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go

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WACTH VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL60d43w9Ck

Palace: PH gov’t will enforce ICC warrant vs persons tagged in Duterte crimes against humanity case

Here are the stories on ANC’s The World Tonight (Feb. 16, 2026).

• The Marcos Jr. administration says it will enforce any ICC arrest warrant for persons implicated in former President Duterte’s crimes against humanity.

• Philippine Senator Jinggoy Estrada and his co-accused in a public works kickback case are barred by a Manila court from leaving the country.

• Philippine army Colonel Audie Mongao is to be court-martialled for announcing his withdrawal of support for President Marcos Jr.

• Cyberlibel charges are filed against former broadcaster Jay Sonza and youtuber Jeffrey Luces Celiz for spreading a fake medical report on the health of President Marcos Jr.

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MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has urged the identified coperpetrators of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity cases he is facing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face the charges head on, and not to go into hiding, if they believe they are innocent.

While their warrants of arrest are yet to be officially received by the Philippine government, Palace press officer Claire Castro on Monday said Duterte’s coperpetrators may be arrested and surrendered to the ICC through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the same way Duterte was apprehended in March last year.

“Why will they evade the arrest warrant in the first place? Are they hiding something or do they want to evade responsibility for what they had done in the past?” Castro told reporters in a briefing. “They do not need to go into hiding if they know they are innocent. They should face the matter and be courageous in going through the necessary processes.”

READ: ICC names Dela Rosa, Bong Go as co-perpetrators in Duterte drug war

Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go were among the eight coperpetrators identified in the lesser redacted version of the document containing charges submitted by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor.

According to the prosecution, Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a “common plan” to “neutralize” alleged criminals in the country, including those they believed to be involved in illegal drugs, through violent crimes such as murder from 2011 to 2019, during Duterte’s term as Davao City mayor until his presidency.

Dela Rosa, who has been absent from the Senate since November last year, served as the former director of Davao City police and later got promoted as Duterte’s first chief of the Philippine National Police.

Go, meanwhile, served as Duterte’s personal aide and eventually his presidential special assistant.

Neutral court

Castro also called on supporters of Duterte and his coperpetrators not to sow chaos following the developments on the ICC case.

“No one should encourage disorder when authorities are merely serving a valid warrant of arrest,” she said. “ If a case has sufficient basis, it should be heard so that we can determine the truth.”

Castro added: “In the end, this will be justice for both sides: justice for the alleged victims of EJKs or extrajudicial killings, and justice for the accused. If they can prove that they have no involvement and bear no guilt, then they may be acquitted of the charges.”

According to the Palace official, the cases against Duterte and his coperpetrators would be better heard by the “neutral” ICC so that these would be “less politicized.”

“Whether former President Duterte gets convicted or acquitted by the ICC, Filipinos will not criticize the judges’ decision because the process there would be neutral and beyond influence,” she said.

 

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Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), the political party of Duterte, Dela Rosa and Go, has accused the Marcos administration of “actively enabling such derogation of our sovereignty” as a “cover-up” of its massive corruption issues and “to decimate the legitimate opposition.”

Interpol cooperation

But Malacañang rebuffed this claim, saying the communication to and investigation of the ICC happened as early as 2017, long before President Marcos assumed office.

“So the blame should not be pinned on our President or his [administration] if the ICC has made findings on the matter. After all, the Marcos [administration] has no influence over the ICC,” Castro said.

According to Castro, the Philippine government maintained that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute on March 17, 2019.

However, the country is still mandated to cooperate with the Interpol.

“At present, the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. However, it is a different matter if the alleged crimes were committed at a time when the ICC still had jurisdiction,” Castro said.

 

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While no longer a state party to the Rome Statute, she also noted that Congress passed Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, which mandates the government’s cooperation, including the surrender of accused, with international tribunals such as the ICC.

Painful process

Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros admitted on Monday that it would be a “difficult and painful” process for the Senate should the ICC look into her fellow lawmakers.

“Like other issues investigated, for example by the Senate, which are only here in the Philippines, this one with an international scope is of course a difficult and even painful process for the Senate,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.

Still, she said the Senate would face the ICC issue “at the proper time.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson also clarified on Monday his remark about having arrest warrants issued by the ICC must go through Philippine courts.

According to Lacson, he was not protecting Dela Rosa and Go but the Philippines’ legal processes.

“To those who criticize my opinion on the need for a corresponding domestic court order before the ICC warrants of arrest against our fellow senators and others may be implemented, let me be clear: what I am protecting is our country’s legal processes as enshrined in Article III Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, not Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Bong Go,” Lacson said.

 

“Despite contrasting legal opinions on the matter, at the proper time, it is only the Supreme Court that will interpret the constitutional provision and legal procedure in this regard,” Lacson added. —WITH REPORTS FROM KEITH CLORES AND ISABELLE PECHAY

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