‘BATO’ SLAMMED
TWO militant lawmakers slammed Senator Ronald “Bato” for making Senate his hideout.
In separate statements, Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro criticized the move of dela Rosa seeking protection from Senate President Chiz Escudero.
In case a warrant of arrest is issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) dela Rosa would request to the Senate to protect him being a member of the Senate.
Brosas said the Senate must uphold its integrity and refuse to shelter those facing serious charges of crimes against humanity.
“When he was PNP chief, he used his position to orchestrate the killings of poor Filipinos under the bloody war on drugs. Now, he wants to hide behind his Senate seat to escape accountability,” Brosas said.
“Hindi dapat gawing hideout ng kriminal ang Senado. Isang malaking kahihiyan kung ang isang institusyong dapat nagtataguyod ng hustisya ay gagamitin bilang taguan ng mga umiiwas sa pananagutan,” she added.
She also called out Dela Rosa’s political backpedaling.
“Just a few days ago, he boldly challenged the ICC with ‘bring it on’ and even said he was ready to join and take care of Duterte in jail. But now that accountability is catching up to him, especially after Duterte’s arrest, he’s suddenly trembling in fear and scrambling for Senate protection,” the lady solon added.
Instead of using his political privilege, Brosas challenged Dela Rosa to face the ICC.
For her part, Castro denounced dela Rosa’s plan to seek Senate protection to evade potential arrest, by calling it a “desperate attempt to escape accountability for his role in thousands of deaths during the bloody war on drugs.”
“Senator Dela Rosa’s attempt to hide behind parliamentary immunity is a mockery of justice and an insult to the thousands of families who lost loved ones in the bloody drug war that he himself orchestrated as PNP chief,” Castro said.
They said Parliamentary immunity was designed to protect legislators from political harassment, not to serve as a get-out-of-jail card for crimes against humanity.
The constitutional provision he’s invoking applies to offenses punishable by less than six years, not to the grave international crimes he’s being investigated for.
The two solons said Dela Rosa shoud be arrested just like former President Rodrigo Duterte as they are both masterminded the extrajudicial killings and bloody war on drugs.
“We call on Senate President Escudero to reject this blatant attempt to use the Senate as a shield against accountability. The principle that no one is above the law must be upheld, especially for those who orchestrated policies that led to thousands of deaths,” they concluded.
