By Ade S. Fajardo
Last week, the Supreme Court denied Senator Bato dela Rosa’s urgent motion for a temporary restraining order against his possible arrest by agents of the law in accordance with a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Dela Rosa bolted the Senate premises at the break of dawn last May 14 after he was granted “protective custody” under the leadership of Alan Peter Cayetano whom he helped install as Senate president.
The National Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have yet to catch up with Dela Rosa who was last seen together with fellow Senator Robinhood Padilla.
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To recall, Dela Rosa attended the session and voted for Cayetano after he ran past two female agents of the NBI who had been waiting in the Senate to serve the warrant for his arrest.
He encamped in the Senate premises in the meantime until gunfire and confusion provided the cover for his “escape.”
He has actual knowledge of the issuance of the ICC warrant of arrest.
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In November last year, the Supreme Court ruled that a fugitive from justice is not allowed to seek judicial remedies. One has to surrender or be apprehended in order to have personality in court.
According to the court, a fugitive from justice is someone who not only flees after conviction to avoid punishment, but “one who also flees after being charged to avoid prosecution. The essential element is the intent to evade prosecution or punishment.”
An arrest warrant is issued upon a finding made by a judge that probable cause exists that the accused committed the crime described in the warrant.
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In this case, the pre-trial chamber of the ICC has found reasonable grounds to believe that Dela Rosa is “criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator (pursuant to Article 25 [3] [a] of the Rome Statute) for the crime against humanity of murder.”
The evidence so far submitted by the ICC prosecutor has established that Dela Rosa, as police chief, necessarily knew that law enforcement operatives, sometimes with the assistance of persons who were not members of the police, or “police assets” and “hitmen,” killed alleged thieves and drug pushers and addicts.
According to the ICC, Dela Rosa, as a long-time police officer, had agreed to “neutralize” these alleged criminals through violent means including murder.
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The ICC, citing testimonial transcript, found that Dela Rosa expanded the Davao model of neutralization by hiring hitmen to kill suspected criminals to afford impunity to law enforcement officers.
For all intents, these findings are akin to a probable cause finding in the context of Philippine criminal cases.
In Dela Rosa’s case, a criminal charge has been filed with the ICC, which has in turn issued a warrant of arrest.
He knows of the charge and that a warrant of arrest has been issued.
The “clear, public and documented efforts by law enforcement to serve legal process” makes him a fugitive in the eyes of the law./WDJ