No arrest warrants yet against other drug war enforcers—Palace

Malacañang said there were still no new notices of arrest warrants against other former enforcers of the bloody war on drugs under the Duterte administration.

“As of now, wala po kaming nare-receive na anumang information kung meron pa pong darating na warrant of arrest through the Interpol (we have yet to receive any information if there are more warrant of arrest through the Interpol),” Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Palace briefing on Wednesday, March 12.

She also said there is no official communication, and they are not anticipating any as of now.

“Wala pa kaming natatanggap so far. Wala pa kaming any official communication (We have not yet received any. We have no official communication),” she said.

“Hindi pa kami nag-a-anticipate (We are not yet anticipating),” she added.

The Palace official, however, said that in case the government receives a new warrant of arrests through the Interpol against any personality involved in the implementation of the drug war campaign, the Marcos administration will again be compelled to cooperate.

“Kung meron man po, ganun pa rin po ang magiging tugon namin kapag hiningi po ng Interpol ang tulong ng administrasyon, tutugon pa rin tayo (If there are, we will still respond in the same manner if the Interpol asks for the help of the administration, we will still help),” Castro said.

The situation will only change if the accused would surrender, she further said.

“Sabi nga rin natin, magiging iba siguro yung sitwasyon kung yung mga tao na maaaring maging subject of a warrant of arrest ay kusang magsu-surrender, hindi na siguro kakailanganin yung naging drama kahapon (As what we have said, the situation could change if the people subject of a warrant of arrest would voluntary surrender, maybe we would not need to deal with yesterday’s drama),” Castro stated.

The arrest warrant served to former president Rodrigo Duterte came from the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the Interpol.

Although the Philippines was no longer a member of the ICC, the arrest was made through the coordination between the Interpol and the government.

With the development, Castro was asked if the Marcos administration is considering rejoining the ICC, but the Palace official said there is no discussion about it yet.

“As of now, there’s no discussion on that. We will just cross the bridge when we get there,” she said.