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Hotel101 Fort has opened in Taguig as the largest hotel in the city with an inventory of 606 HappyRooms. To showcase its world-class hospitality and accommodations, the hotel recently entered into a partnership agreement with Miss Asia Pacific International as the Official Residence of the candidates for the 2024 pageant from September 28 to October […]
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What will the Philippine National Police (PNP) do with the three high-ranking officers who were named as suspects in the ongoing probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs?
The three are: Major General Romeo Caramat Jr., former chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and currently the acting area commander of Luzon; retired colonel Edilberto Leonardo, identified in the document as former commissioner of the National Police Commission (the Napolcom’s website still lists him as a commissioner); Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta, identified by the ICC as former PNP chief intelligence officer (He is currently the director of the PNP-Drug Enforcement Group.).
The three police officers were named, together with Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, in a four-page confidential document dated July 3, sent through the Philippine Embassy in The Hague and released to the media on July 25 by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the earliest complainants to the ICC against Duterte’s brutal drug war.
The document said: “Under Article 54 (1) a of the Rome Statute, the [Office of the Prosecutor) 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 the events. In this context, the OTP has reasonable grounds to believe that the following retired and serving members of the Philippine National Police have committed crimes within the jurisdiction of the OTP. “
This is the first official ICC list of suspects ever reported on the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed under Duterte’s war on drugs, in which at least 20,000 persons were killed, according to human rights groups. The PNP, however, admits to only 6,000 individuals killed during police operations.
It has been almost a month since the ICC sent the document to the DFA and we can imagine that it has been delivered to the “suspects.”
The inclusion of the three active officers undermines the “new face” of the campaign against illegal drugs that Marcos touted in his second State of the Nation Address in July 2023.
He said then: “Unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade have been exposed. I will be accepting their resignations. In their stead, we will install individuals with unquestionable integrity, and who will be effective and trustworthy in handling the task of eliminating this dreaded and corrosive social curse.”
As head of the PNP’s drug enforcement group, Matta supposedly leads a different anti-illegal drugs strategy that does not include extermination of suspects.
Leonardo is still with Napolcom, which exercises “administrative control and operational supervision over the PNP, with the end in view of ensuring a highly capable, effective and credible police service”
Why is Duterte not on the list? Trillanes explained that the former president was already named when the ICC authorized prosecutor Karim Khan to proceed with the probe on Sept. 15, 2021.
The former senator further said the formal naming of the five former and current PNP officials in Duterte’s drug war probe puts them in the “blue notice” of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
Inclusion in the Interpol’s “blue notice” means that if and when the suspect travels outside the Philippines, he may be detained for questioning in connection with the ICC probe.
“They have a choice whether to cooperate or not,” Trillanes said.
Carramat, Leonardo and Matta still have that option.
There were earlier talks about Albayalde’s willingness to cooperate with the ICC but that turned out to be false. Dela Rosa, whose Facebook page showed him distributing foodstuff to victims of typhoon Carina on Thursday, shrugged off the ICC update: “”What’s new? My name was always mentioned since 2016.Seems like a broken record that keeps on repeating the same lines,” he told VERA Files by text.
As for Duterte, an arrest warrant will just be a matter of time.
This article was also carried by VERA Files
President Marcos was given a standing ovation (one of the three) when he reiterated his unyielding stand on the country’s ownership of West Philippine Sea.
But even as he tried to rally people behind a common adversary which is China, he talked of finding “ways to de-escalate tensions in contested areas “underscoring “proper diplomatic channels and mechanisms under the rules-based international order” to settle disputes.
Hours before the President made that declaration, Filipino and Chinese diplomats simultaneously announced the arrangement they agreed on for the rotation and resupply (RORE) to the Philippine Marines stationed at BRP Sierra Made on Ayungin shoal (international name: Second Thomas shoal and Chines name: Rén’ài Jiāo).
The three-paragraph statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs said “The Philippines and the People’s Republic of China have reached an understanding on the provisional arrangement for the resupply of daily necessities and rotation missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.”
China’s five-paragraph announcement in a question- and -answer form gave more information. It insisted on China’s sovereignty over Ren’ai Jiao and reiterated its demand for the BRP Sierra Madre to be removed from Ayungin shoal.
These are the two most significant points:
“Second, between now and when the warship is towed away, should the Philippines need to send living necessities to the personnel living on the warship, China is willing to allow it in a humanitarian spirit if the Philippines informs China in advance and after on-site verification is conducted. China will monitor the entire resupply process.
“Third, if the Philippines were to send large amount of construction materials to the warship and attempt to build fixed facilities or permanent outpost, China will absolutely not accept it and will resolutely stop it in accordance with the law and regulations to uphold China’s sovereignty and the sanctity of the DOC.”
Immediately, DFA refuted China’s statement: “The spokesperson’s statement (therefore) regarding prior notification and on-site confirmation is inaccurate. “
It added that “the agreement was concluded with the clear understanding by both sides that it will not prejudice our respective national positions.”
The test of this breakthrough agreement is in its implementation. Let’s see.
This column was carried by Malaya Business Insight, VERA Files
TCL Philippines recently unveiled its newest offering, the gigantic TCL 115″ X955 which is the world’s first 115-inch consumer TV. By its sheer size. it is set to redefine one’s home viewing experience. You probably don’t need another theater after this! TCL 115″ X955 QD-Mini LED TV is currently available for PHP 999,995, a massive PHP […]
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