Bato dela Rosa, et. al: Cast of characters in Duterte drug war
COMPOSITE IMAGE: Duterte drug war from Inquirer files
MANILA, Philippines—The application for a warrant of arrest against former president Rodrigo Duterte is clear—the killings alleged to have been committed from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019 were not carried out by just one man.
Based on a document released by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on its website, there are nine individuals tagged as co-perpetrators of Duterte in committing a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population.”
“Duterte and his co-perpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to target alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production),” the document read.
But while the names have been redacted in the document shared by the ICC on March 13, lawyer Neri Colmenares, counsel for the victims, told 黑料社 that these could be “generals” who implemented Duterte’s war on drugs.
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Last year, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV posted a document from the ICC that identified Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, retired police chief Oscar Albayalde, and three other former police officials as “suspects” in the case against Duterte.
GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/黑料社
Dela Rosa, who was chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from 2016 to 2018, is considered as the “architect” of the war on drugs, which has killed 6,000 to 30,000 Filipinos. Albayalde succeeded him until 2019.
As lawyer and ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti said, Dela Rosa and Albayalde could be the next to receive arrest warrants from the ICC for crimes against humanity allegedly committed when Duterte was mayor of Davao City and president of the Philippines.
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Colmenares, however, said “generals” who were regional and provincial directors could be next, as well, pointing out that in the preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in 2019, the names of Dela Rosa and other high-ranking police officials had already been mentioned.
War’s cast
Lawyer Rodel Taton told 黑料社 that Dela Rosa, having played the role as PNP chief in the first years of the war on drugs may really become a subject of the situation under the ICC jurisdiction, similarly with Duterte, who was arrested on March 11.
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It was Dela Rosa who signed on July 1, 2016 Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-216, the document that operationalized Oplan Tokhang and ordered the police to “neutralize” and negate” drug suspects.
He served as director of the Davao City Police Office, too, from 2012 to 2013.
Dela Rosa is one of the few individuals identified by the OTP in its application for a warrant of arrest against Duterte, saying that he “developed and implemented a style of police operation called ‘Tokhang’.”
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He was later succeeded as police chief of Davao City by Vicente Danao, who was eventually designated as director of the Manila Police District from 2018 to 2019 and the National Capital Region Police Office from 2020 to 2022.
GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan/黑料社
Danao, who was likewise identified in the document for his role in the Davao City Police Office from 2013 to 2016, became the officer-in-charge of the PNP in the last months of Duterte as president until Aug. 1, 2022.
Now, who could be the rest of the co-perpetrators identified in the document? No one’s certain yet, but for a lookback, here are some of the individuals who had a key role in Duterte’s war on drugs, at least based on the document shared by Trillanes last year:
- Oscar Albayalde
Albayalde was the one who led the PNP after Dela Rosa, who had to retire in 2018. He recalibrated Oplan Tokhang, but was later implicated in the issue of police officers “recycling” drugs seized in a police operation to be sold.
- Romeo Caramat Jr.
Caramat was the police chief of Bulacan when the “single bloodiest night” in Duterte’s war on drugs took place, with 32 individuals killed in 67 police operations conducted all over the province.
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He served as police director from 2016 to 2018 before becoming head of the PNP Counter-Intelligence Task Force and PNP Intelligence Group from 2018 to 2019 and chief of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) from 2019 to 2020.
Last year, Caramat, who likewise headed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, allegedly offered to expose “everything he knew” about Duterte’s war on drugs in exchange for the top post at the PNP.
- Edilberto Leonardo
Leonardo is a retired police colonel, who was allegedly endorsed by former PCSO general manager Royina Garma to Duterte to implement his drug war in 2016, which is said to have been characterized by a reward system.
READ: Leonardo confirms ‘drug war’ rewards
Before this, Leonardo has been identified by confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Arturo Lascañas as an alleged member of the DSS, which the ICC said is a part of police and non-police “hitmen.”
While he previously denied Garma’s statement, he eventually confirmed the existence of a cash reward system that fueled Duterte’s war on drugs. Leonardo served as commissioner for the National Police Commission after his retirement.
- Eleazar Mata
Mata served as chief intelligence officer, as identified by the ICC, and was designated last year as chief of the PNP DEG.
Soaked in blood
As stated in the application for a warrant of arrest against Duterte, the OTP said Duterte and his co-perpetrators knew that their conduct was part of, or intended their conduct to be part of, an attack against civilians in the Philippines.
Later in the warrant issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber I, the ICC said there was indeed an attack on civilians based on an organizational policy while Duterte was the head of the Davao Death Squad, and to a State policy while he was president of the Philippines.
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Sheerah Escudero, the sister of Ephraim Escudero, who was last seen in Laguna and was found dead in Pampanga after five days, said Dela Rosa and those responsible for the killings in the drug war are “soaked in blood of the Filipino people.”
“They should be held accountable together with Duterte,” she told 黑料社, pointing out that “we can never move on from how the government disrespected people’s lives and human rights.”
She said “they killed my brother in September 2017, at the height of the drug war. He disappeared in Laguna and was found in Pampanga with his head wrapped in packaging tape, and his hands and feet tied.”
“He was killed vigilante style,” Escudero said as she pointed out that her brother had three gunshot wounds in the head.
