A senator in hiding is given added excuse to absent himself from work more as the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has uploaded a lesser redacted version of the complaint that includes his name.
Senator Ronald de la Rosa’s name appears as among the nine revealed by the Document Containing the Charges revealed by the international chamber.
He had been missing from Senate sessions since September when rumors of his impending arrest began circulating.
The nine are named as former president Rodrigo Duterte’s co-perpetrators of alleged crimes against humanity for the tens of thousands killed under their so-called anti-drug war.
De la Rosa was Davao City and Philippine chief of police when Duterte was mayor and president, respectively.
He is said to be the chief implementor of “Oplan Tokhang” that openly identified suspected drug dependents, thousands of whom were eventually summarily killed.
Both Duterte and de la Rosa were on record to have ordered and implemented the bloody campaign.
Duterte is detained at The Hague in The Netherlands awaiting trial by the ICC. His confirmation of charges hearing shall commence on February 23.
Also revealed as co-perpetrators are
- Senator Christopher Go – former special assistant to Duterte
- Vicente Danao – former Philippine National Police (PNP) counter-intelligence director
- Camilo Cascolan, former PNP operations chief (died November 2023)
- Oscar Albayalde – former PNP chief
- Dante Gierran – former National Bureau of Investigation director
- Isidro Lapeña – former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief
- Vitaliano Aguirre II – former secretary of justice
The ICC document also said other high-ranking police and government officials were involved.
ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti clarified that the 16-page document is not a new one and had been made public by the ICC last September.
“We’ve seen the [document] before. It was filed in July 2025 but only made public in September. But this is the first time significant details have been disclosed,” she said.
Conti explained the listed co-perpetrators may be loosely called Duterte’s co-masterminds in their “war on drugs.”
She said that the charges show that respondents did not only plan the killings but tried to ensure impunity deom 2013 to 2018.
“The involvement of those in the investigating units, which should have acted as the killings happen, is material to the plan,” the human rights lawyer said.
“This also emphasizes that the ‘war on drugs’ began in Davao while Duterte was mayor,” the human rights lawyer said.
Conti said the charges will be read beginning Monday, February 23, at the ICC’s confirmation of charges hearing. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
