The death penalty in the Philippines was outlawed in 1987, reintroduced six years later, and then abolished again in 2006. The International Criminal Court does not use the death penalty.
De la Rosa retired in honor of a hero in 2018 as the chief of police. After discovering that the anti-drug crackdown may be a crime against humanity, the judge of the International Criminal Court decided to authorize the investigation.
Some of the movement’s most notable abuses occurred under the supervision of de la Rosa, including the murder of young Kian delos Santos in 2017, which led to the first conviction of the police who carried out the war on drugs.
Dela Rosa defended the country’s criminal justice system, saying there was no need to prove to the world that it was effective.
In any case, he said: “I would rather have a criminal justice system operated by Philippine judges like hell than a criminal justice (system) operated by foreign judges like heaven.”
