Año, Remulla reject claims they're part of 'core group' that planned Duterte’s ICC arrest
National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla refuted claims that they were part of an alleged "core group" to have former president Rodrigo Duterte arrested and turned over to the International Criminal Court.
Año, who was present at the Senate foreign relations committee investigation hearing on Thursday, denied giving the Marcos administration inside information on Duterte.
When Senator Imee Marcos confronted him about it, Año said, “The implementation of an ICC arrest warrant is beyond my mandate. I am not aware nor am I a member of a core group that allegedly planned and prepared for the arrest of former president Duterte. It was only on Tuesday morning of March 11 that I learned that there was already an Interpol notice and that the ICC arrest warrant would be served.”
He rejected claims that he orchestrated a "grand conspiracy" to get Duterte arrested, saying it is "utterly unacceptable and unfair that [his] name is being dragged" into the situation.
"I firmly deny any allegations of a grand conspiracy," Año said, asserting that he was “merely doing [his] job” as Marcos' NSA.
He said: “I’d like to state for the record that my role is limited to the mandate of my office, which is to assess that the situation does not escalate into a national security concern.”
Año, who previously served as Duterte’s interior secretary and armed forces chief, said he was a “victim of a disinformation campaign aimed at destroying [his] integrity and credibility built over decades of public service.”
He also made clear that he "never played politics" and that his "loyalties, as a soldier, have always been to the Constitution and the chain of command."
"I saw my appointments as a continuation of my service to the Filipino people across different administrations. In this position, I never played politics. I do not have a political agenda, nor do I have or will I ever have political ambitions," Año said.
Meanwhile, Remulla denied he was also part of the "core group" that knew about the ICC arrest warrant. He noted that he would rather not discuss his meetings with President Marcos due to "executive privilege."
“I was asked if I planned it. I said it was not me, but there are other people in the room. We were discussing rumors of an arrest warrant. There was no planning. You cannot plan on a rumor,” Remulla said.
This was after Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, Duterte’s former police chief and a co-perpetrator of the former president, accused Año of tipping the Marcos administration about their moves instead of alerting them about the arrest warrant.
“The former president treated him as a friend and trusted him. He should have alerted us about the arrest warrant. But my ill feelings about him are on a personal level, not official,” said Dela Rosa in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Dela Rosa posted a video reel on Facebook about Año’s actions, saying: “You break our hearts, sir.” (with reports from Mark Jason Cayabyab)
