PDP LABAN urges SC to swiftly resolve Duterte, Bato cases

Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP LABAN) on Saturday issued an open letter to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, urging the high tribunal to immediately resolve the cases involving former President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa.

In its open letter, signed by PDP LABAN acting chairman Alfonso Cusi, the political party clarified that while neither it nor its officers are direct litigants in the proceedings, the party is intervening as a "concerned third party" in the public interest.

PDP LABAN, moreover, said it is not asking the court to adopt its specific legal stance, but rather to issue a definitive ruling to prevent further instability.

"We write as a third party, as Filipinos who care how these cases are heard and decided," Cusi said in the letter, emphasizing that the submission is not a pleading, but an exercise of every citizen's right to petition the government for redress of grievances on public-interest matters.

"Our request is a single one: that the Court decide these cases, and decide them promptly."

Central to the party's appeal is the constitutional requirement regarding arrest warrants.

Under Philippine law, a warrant of arrest may only be issued upon probable cause determined personally by a judge— which PDP LABAN claimed has not been met by any local court regarding either Duterte or Dela Rosa.

The party stated it will fully respect and abide by whatever decision the magistrate hands down, whether it favors the petitioners or the government, provided a clear ruling is established.

"Mindful of the sub judice rule, we leave the merits to the parties and the Court; we ask only that it rule, and we will respect its ruling, whichever way it goes," Cusi said.

"Should the Court hold that the warrant against Senator dela Rosa may lawfully be enforced, PDP LABAN will abide by that ruling; should it hold otherwise, we ask the government to do the same."

'Delays'

The political party further cited “severe procedural delays” surrounding the cases.

It said that a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of former President Duterte, now 81, has remained pending before the Supreme Court for nearly 600 days.

This came despite an order issued by the court on March 13, 2025, which required respondents to show cause within a non-extendible 24-hour period.

PDP LABAN warned that such prolonged inaction echoes the historical risks of judicial delay seen during the martial law era.

"The Constitution guarantees all persons a speedy disposition of their cases and charges the courts with the duty to settle actual controversies involving rights, a duty owed to parties and public alike," Cusi said.

"Filipinos of good faith answer the questions in these cases differently; in May 2026, the Court itself divided nine to five on interim relief. A nation can debate such questions for a season; it cannot live long with two answers to them,” he said.

'Let there be a ruling'

PDP LABAN said the urgency has intensified as the Philippine government moves to enforce an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Senator Dela Rosa, ahead of Duterte’s trial in The Hague scheduled to begin on November 30, 2026.

Authorities also declared Senator Dela Rosa "armed and dangerous," announcing a P50-million bounty for his capture, and imposed a one-week surrender deadline that has since expired.

PDP LABAN warned that without judicial clarity, private individuals and law enforcement officers are left to act on conflicting interpretations of the law, recalling a May 13, 2026 firearm exchange inside the Senate complex between Senate security and National Bureau of Investigation agents.

"Until the law is settled, each side acts on its own reading of it; every Filipino becomes a Supreme Court of one," Cusi said.

PDP LABAN painted a grim picture of potential consequences should the legal ambiguity persist, urging the public to picture a scenario where a tip bought with reward money sends officers to a private home in the provinces, leading to panic, gunfire, and casualties among police and bystanders alike.

"None of this is inevitable; all of it grows less likely the day the Court speaks," Cusi said.

"Should blood be shed, it will stain not only the hands that fired, but every hand that could have prevented it and did not. May no hand in this Republic,our own included, bear that stain,” he said.

PDP LABAN stressed that delay harms all involved—denying justice to the families seeking accountability for the anti-drug campaign while leaving the accused without a resolution on their constitutional rights.

"A ruling will not please everyone, but it will settle what the law is, and return the debate over what it should be to Congress and the ballot," Cusi said.

PDP LABAN called on all parties and the Filipino public to exercise restraint, reiterating its request for the Supreme Court to resolve the cases—including Senator Dela Rosa's pending motion for reconsideration—at the earliest possible date.

"To our fellow Filipinos, on every side: you need not agree with us about the law to agree that the law must now speak.Until it does, let no one take it into their own hands," Cusi said.

"Let the ruling favor the petitioners or the government, as the law requires. But let there be a ruling, so that force never answers what only law should,” he added. —VAL, GMA News