Gatchalian to enforcers: Carry out safe arrest of Dela Rosa

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday called on law enforcers to ensure the safe conduct of arrest of Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

“To our law enforcers, they must conduct a safe arrest of Senator Bato. No violence should happen,” Gatchalian said in an interview with radio dzBB.

“It’s important that Senator Bato as well as our law enforcers, are safe because we know these kinds of operations are dangerous. It’s important to have an orderly arrest,” he added. “Based on what I heard in the news, particularly coming from the [Department of Interior and Local Government], violence could really happen and we do not want that.”

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Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla earlier claimed that arresting Dela Rosa, who has been ordered arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for being a co-perpetrator in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, could lead to 10,000 deaths.

READ: Jonvic Remulla: Arresting Sen. dela Rosa could lead to 10,000 deaths

This is the reason the government is negotiating for his surrender, Remulla said.

He added that he received information two months ago that Dela Rosa was being protected by an “armed” group, but he did not give more details.

READ: P50-M bounty for capture of ‘armed and dangerous’ Bato Dela Rosa – DILG

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On Friday, the government announced a P50-million bounty for Dela Rosa while the Philippine National Police gave him one week to surrender.

But Gatchalian said the government should assert its authority over the armed group said to be protecting Dela Rosa.

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“It seems like this armed group is bolder than the government. They are negotiating and it seems that they have the capacity to negotiate. That shouldn’t be the case,” he said.

“In the first place, the government should not be negotiating with the armed group, especially if this armed group is a terrorist group. If you have weapons and you are not authorized to have weapons, for me, you are like a terrorist or criminal group,” he added.

Gatchalian said negotiating with terrorist or criminal group is not good for the government “because it makes it appear that our government is weak.”

“They shouldn’t have been armed in the first place…But then again, I don’t know the details of this group, but I understand why details are not being disclosed, and that is due to security reasons,” he added.

Gatchalian said he has not received any communication from Dela Rosa, including possible appeal for him to be taken into Senate custody.

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“Nothing like that…the last communication I had with him was basically the last time he appeared in the Senate [in May],” he added. /cb