THE confrontational former President Rodrigo Duterte has all the reasons to be nice to the administration as a top Justice department official who claimed that the implementation of a possible arrest by the International Police Organization (Interpol) against him for the death of some 30,000 persons, “will ultimately be decided” by the Philippine authorities.
“Assuming na tatanggapin ng Interpol ‘yan at magpadala ng red notice, in the final analysis, it is the Philippine authorities, judicial, law enforcement that will determine whether or not to implement it,” Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said in a news forum.
However, Vasquez insisted that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to receive any information on the supposed issuance of an arrest warrant sometime in September.
“We are not aware of that,” Vasquez told newsmen in a news forum, in reference to retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio’s recent claim having received information that the ICC might issue an arrest warrant against Duterte and other top officials of his administration next month.
“I think the day of reckoning is coming closer, because what I’m hearing is that a warrant of arrest will be issued by the ICC sometime in September,” Carpio was quoted as saying in an interview with political analyst Richard Heydarian.
Interestingly, Carpio did not identify his supposed “sources.”
Duterte, who is being investigated by the ICC for extrajudicial killings during his administration neither admitted nor denied the allegation but insisted that the Philippines was not under ICC’s jurisdiction due to Manila’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in March 2019.
Aside from Duterte, likewise suspected of taking an active role in the war against drugs which killed around 30,000 drug suspects, are former Philippine National Police chief now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, and a long list of “persons of interest” including active and retired police generals.
Should the Interpol issue a red notice, Vasquez said, the matter will be coordinated through the Philippine National Police (PNP), which has been designated as the country’s Interpol National Central Bureau.
“So coordinating body ‘yan at sila ang mag-i-implement na ‘yan if ever dumating ang panahon na ganun,” he said.
Red notice is defined as a “request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.” (ANGEL F. JOSE)
