'Bring it on' - Philippines' drug war commander invites probes into killings

MANILA, May 17 (Reuters) - The top enforcer of a brutal war
on drugs in the Philippines on Friday dared prosecutors to go
after him for the deaths of thousands of people, after activists
warned that his election to the Senate could insulate him from
legal action.
Ronald dela Rosa, President Rodrigo Duterte's top lieutenant
in a crackdown that alarmed the international community,
shrugged off calls for him to be investigated for what human
rights groups say were systematic police cover-ups, falsified
reports and summary executions.
The former national police chief, nicknamed "Bato" (rock),
was endorsed by Duterte in a May 13 election in which he is all
but certain to win a seat in the powerful Senate. "Bring it on, bring it on. Whatever they want, I will not
run away," dela Rosa told news channel ANC when asked about a
possible probe, including by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) in the Hague.
"Whatever, whatever, whenever," he added.
Duterte's allies swept the midterm polls in what was seen as
a ringing public endorsement of the president's controversial
rule and the war on drugs that has defined it.
Dela Rosa and the government insist the more than 5,000
suspected drug dealers whom police have killed in anti-narcotics
operations had all put up a fight.
"We have to protect ourselves, we have to defend ourselves,"
he said.
Many more have died - the estimates vary from thousands to
more than 20,000 - in incidents that police say could be
drug-related, but were not part of their operations.
Dela Rosa is included in a crimes against humanity complaint
lodged by a Filipino lawyer with the ICC, a court of last
resort. In February 2018, it announced it had started a
preliminary examination into the war on drugs.
Accusing the ICC of bias, Duterte a month later cancelled
the Philippines' ICC membership, a move legal experts say makes
no difference as its jurisdiction covers crimes committed during
a country's membership period.
Duterte promised when elected in 2016 to eliminate crime and
drugs. He and dela Rosa publicly admit they failed, but blame
that on the scale of the methamphetamine problem rather than
what critics say is a flawed campaign designed to shock by
targeting users in slums, instead of the big suppliers.
In a blog post on Friday, Carlos Conde, Philippines
researcher for Human Rights Watch, said dela Rosa "may still
have a date with justice".
"Now that dela Rosa is a policymaker, there is renewed
urgency in bringing all those responsible for 'drug war' crimes
to justice," he said.