MANILA – With Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s announcement that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant of arrest against Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa, Bulatlat revisits Dela Rosa’s role in Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.”

As per the ICC Document Containing the Charges (DCC), Duterte’s collaborators are considered as “co-perpetrators” who shared a “Common Plan” to neutralize alleged criminals through violent crimes, including murder, between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019. Duterte, who is now detained at the ICC facility in the Hague, is held individually criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator for these crimes.

Dela Rosa was instrumental in the said “Common Plan.” While Duterte provided the political mandate and the lethal incentive structure, Dela Rosa, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, set up the formal mechanisms and ensured the policy reached its targets through the apparatus of the state police.

1. Architect and commander of the national campaign

Upon Duterte’s assumption of the presidency, Dela Rosa was appointed as the PNP Chief, effectively placing him in control of the state apparatus responsible for the drug war.

• Formalizing the Policy: On July 1, 2016, the same day Duterte appointed him, Dela Rosa issued CMC No. 16-2016, officially launching the nationwide anti-illegal drugs campaign, Project “Double Barrel”. This circular formalized the mass killings as a policy, directed at the “neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide”.
• Davao Model Expansion: Project “Double Barrel” was explicitly modeled after Davao City’s policing strategy(the “Davao model”) and expressly referenced Duterte’s pronouncement “to get rid of illegal drugs during the first six months of his term”.
• Lethal Intent: Dela Rosa’s actions and statements ensured the implementation of this lethal policy, resulting in a marked increase in killings immediately following the circular’s launch. Dela Rosa is named as one of the key co-perpetrators who agreed to expand the Common Plan to “neutralise” alleged criminals across the Philippines through violent crimes.

2. Public rhetoric and justification of violence

Dela Rosa publicly endorsed the violence inherent in the campaign, linking his rhetoric directly to the policy’s desired outcome of eliminating alleged criminals:

• Crushing drug lords: He affirmed the campaign’s violent nature, stating: “Killings in the name of drugs. This is really about killings in the name of drugs. So you drug lords out there, get ready because I’ll crush you.”
• Inciting public action: After his appointment as PNP Chief, Dela Rosa spoke to a crowd of alleged drug addicts and reportedly instructed them to kill drug lords and burn their houses for contributing to their addiction.
• Downplaying civilian deaths: He was criticized for downplaying the death of a three-year-old girl killed in a police operation in June 2019, stating that “shit happens during operations” and that such deaths were instances of “collateral damage”. This remark was deemed “insensitive” by a child rights group.

3. Response to accountability issues and scandals

Dela Rosa was involved in responding to the public outcry and scandals that temporarily halted parts of the drug war operations:

• Temporary Suspensions: Following public outrage over high-profile killings—such as the murder of Korean national Jee Ick Joo and the killing of teenager Kian Delos Santos—Duterte twice ordered the temporary withdrawal of the PNP from anti-illegal drug operations. These suspensions demonstrated Duterte’s, and by extension the PNP’s, control over the rate of killings.
• “War on Scalawags”: Following the murder of Jee Ick Joo by rogue police, Dela Rosa disbanded the Anti-Illegal Drugs Groups (AIDG) and declared a shift in priority to an internal “war on scalawags”. However, Human Rights Watch criticized this action as an “empty public relations gesture,” arguing it showed no interest in probing the circumstances of the thousands of prior police killings of suspected users and dealers.

4. Role in Senate Investigations

After becoming a Senator, Dela Rosa faced criticism for his continued involvement and statements regarding accountability:

• Obstructing Inquiry: He has been cited by victims’ families and human rights groups as one of the officials, along with Duterte and Christopher “Bong” Go, who must be held accountable for the mass killings.
• Calling Testimony “Propaganda”: During a Senate hearing concerning the drug war, he was criticized for referring to the testimonies of victims’ families as “propaganda”.
• Refusal to Inhibit: Lawyers were aghast that he participated in the Senate probe on drug war killings, arguing that he should have been a resource person answering questions, given the “persistent and credible allegations of his participation in the whole scheme of things,” rather than an interpellator.
• Blaming Victims: Dela Rosa publicly blamed families of victims for their perceived refusal to “file complaints (with) the authorities,” despite the obstacles faced by poor families in pursuing domestic cases.

Overall, Dela Rosa’s role was essential in transforming Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric into a nationwide, institutional policy executed by the police force, maintaining control over the operations, and defending the resulting body count.

Disclosure: The author used Bulatlat’s LM Notebook on Archives on War Drugs to generate and summarize relevant information. The content was verified, reviewed and revised by the author and edited by Bulatlat editors.