The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation against other key personalities involved in former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on illegal drugs is underway, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday, March 13.
DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said the arrest warrant issued against Duterte also sends a message that other individuals are being investigated for their supposed role in the drug war launched under the Duterte administration.
Ty said police chief-turned-senator Ronald Dela Rosa and retired police chief Oscar Albayalde are among the key figures subject to the ICC’s ongoing probe.
“If we look at the warrant, it says something there, there’s a language there, I just forget what the exact language is, that there are other individuals being investigated,” he said in a panel discussion with Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro.
“We are not privy to those who are being investigated, what the status of the investigation is at the ICC. But we know that they are among those being investigated,” Ty added, referring to Dela Rosa and Albayalde.
He, however, clarified that there is no arrest warrant yet against Dela Rosa and Albayalde.
He, nevertheless, assured the public that the government already knows how to execute the arrest warrants that may be issued by the ICC against other individuals.
“Let’s just wait and see if there will be an arrest warrant against them,” Ty said.
The DOJ on Wednesday said the Philippine government adhered to domestic and international legal procedures when it implemented the arrest order against Duterte on Tuesday.*PNA