A Facebook (FB) reel is falsely claiming that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued and sent to the Philippines an arrest warrant for Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. The re-electionist lawmaker was the top enforcer of the deadly drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who faces crimes against humanity charges before the court in relation to the campaign.
The fraudulent video, uploaded on April 17, bore images of Dela Rosa and Duterte, and a text overlay with a caption that reads, respectively:
“papayagan pa ba natin na mangyari to ulit BREAKING NEWS: WARRANT NI BATO DELAROSA GALING ICC nasa PILIPINAS na??… AW MAG GIRA NA
(Are we going to let this happen again? BREAKING NEWS: BATO DELA ROSA’S WARRANT FROM THE ICC is already in the PHILIPPINES??… OH, WAR WiLL BREAK OUT)”
“Ibaba nyo yan sir polboron pag ito mangyari pa ulit naku ph Ewan nlang talaga
(Put that down, sir polboron if this happens again, oh PH, I really don’t know anymore)”
As of April 25, no recent updates related to the supposed warrant of arrest against dela Rosa have been published on the court records section of the ICC’s official website.
There have also been no verified reports confirming that the Philippine government has received any such warrant.
However, some news outlets previously cited Kristina Conti, ICC assistant to counsel, who said more warrants of arrest are coming in connection with Duterte’s drug war, noting “this [extrajudicial killings] would not have happened without all the others.”
In a late-March interview with political analyst Richard Heydarian, published on April 12, Conti said that although Duterte may have been the “brain or moral compass” behind the anti-drug campaign, “the implementation was left up to his lackeys, [which] would be his police officers and civilians.”
“So, minimum, Bato… there could be others, there will be others,” she added, referring to those who are likely to receive an arrest warrant from the ICC.
The ICC’s 54-page application for a warrant of arrest against Duterte states that he has nine co-perpetrators and other members of the Philippine National Police and high-ranking government officials in implementing his bloody war against illegal drugs.
The spurious FB reel, which emerged five days after the interview with Conti was published, has since garnered 252,000 views, 2,300 comments, and 151 shares.
