‘ICC notifies Philippine government of EJK suspects, led by Bato’

MANILA, Philippines — Former police chiefs Sen. Ronald dela Rosa and Oscar Albayalde, along with three other former and current police officials, have been formally tagged as suspects in the ongoing drug war investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said yesterday.

Trillanes released portions of a four-page document purportedly released by the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) on July 3.

He said the confidential document, which The STAR is still trying to independently verify, was sent to the Philippine government through its embassy in The Hague, Netherlands.

Based on the document released by Trillanes on his social media accounts, the ICC OTP supposedly found “reasonable grounds to believe” that five former and current officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) “have committed crimes within” its jurisdiction. Former president Rodrigo Duterte, meanwhile, is the principal suspect, Trillanes said.

Dela Rosa was the first PNP chief under the Duterte administration and the implementor of the former president’s war on drugs.

In addition to Dela Rosa and Albayalde, who both served as police chiefs under the Duterte administration, also tagged as suspects were former PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, and former PNP chief intelligence officer Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta.

Caramat is currently the PNP’s area police command in Northern Luzon, while Matta is the director of the PNP Philippine Drug Enforcement Group.

“The OTP is currently focusing its investigation on allegations of widespread and systematic killings of individuals in the Philippines, as part of a policy to eliminate drug users and suppliers between 2011 and 2019,” read the document, portions of which were redacted. “During this period, large numbers of drug offenders were killed during police enforcement activity,” it said.

“Under Article 54(1)a of the Rome Statute, the OTP is obliged to conduct investigations which cover all the facts and evidence. This includes providing individuals under suspicion of crimes to provide their version of