MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla utterly denied having received any supposed arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court at least having any information about such contrary to the claims of Rep. Pulong Duterte that arrest order against Sen. Bong Go and two others were already out.
“Wala pa kong nakitang.. Baka sabog siya nun nung narinig kasi wala pa kaming nakitang ganun eh,” Remulla told reporters in Filipino in jest when asked if he knew of any such warrant from the ICC.
(I haven’t seen.. He could have been stoned when he heard it because we haven’t seen anything like that.)
Even Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. also denied the lawmaker’s claim.
“Ako hindi ko alam (Me, I don’t know),” Nartatez said in a chance interview on Thursday.
Both chiefs however assured that the PNP is always ready to implement such a warrant if and when official orders come down to them.
“The Philippine National Police is ready. Marami tayong tracker, manhunt teams at arrest teams to implement the warrant of arrest,” Nartatez said.
(The Philippine National Police is ready. We have a lot of tracker, manhunt and arrest teams to implement the warrant.)
“We are always prepared pero yung ganung klaseng pronouncements eh delikado yung diba (but those kinds of pronouncements are dangerous),” Remulla also said.
Duterte on Wednesday alleged that ICC arrest warrants have been issued against Go and two former police officers. The lawmaker did not identify the two police officers but former PNP chiefs Oscar Albayalde and Vicente Danao have likewise been named as alleged co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity case filed against the former president.
The son of the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte said that a “highly reliable source” gave him the information.
It can be recalled however that former senator Antonio Trillanes IV earlier said that Go, a former aide of the Duterte patriarch, is the next target of the ICC.
Trillanes claimed having received information that an arrest warrant awaits Go.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, is currently in hiding following the release of the ICC arrest warrant against him as among the alleged co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity.
Dela Rosa is considered the chief architect of the war on drugs implemented in Davao during the old Duterte’s term as Mayor of Davao City and nationwide during his presidency.
