Warrants can’t be served to legal counsel, says Matibag

MANILA, Philippines — Melvin Matibag, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, clarified in a press briefing on Friday, May 22, that an arrest warrant must be personally served to the accused individual and not to their legal counsel.

“That is under the Rules of Court. Hindi ko alam kung saan nanggaling ‘yung idea na ibigay mo sa abugado, siya mag se-serve,” Matibag said when asked by the media if legal counsels can receive warrants on behalf of their clients.

(That is under the Rules of Court. I don’t know where they got the idea to just give the warrant to the lawyer for them to serve.)

This came after an interview with Jimmy Bondoc, legal counsel of fugitive lawmaker Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, which went viral this week after he insisted that the existing ICC warrant against Dela Rosa could be served to them as part of their duty as lawyers.

“Abogado naman po kami. Pwede naman sa amin,” Bondoc claimed.

(We are [his] lawyers. [The warrant] can be served to us.)

Just surrender

Matibag said it would be better for Dela Rosa to surrender to the authorities already tracking his whereabouts.

According to him, the NBI has already formed a team to locate Dela Rosa following a directive from the Department of Justice. The Philippine National Police also did the same on Friday.

“Because it’s just two things — get arrested or surrender. It’s an option to surrender,” he said.

Authorities are pursuing Dela Rosa after the Supreme Court denied his request for a temporary restraining order against the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

As of May 22, Dela Rosa was still in the country, according to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Revisit criminal procedure

Meanwhile, Bondoc’s statement was disputed by fellow lawyers, including KARAPATAN deputy secretary-general Sol Taule.

She even suggested that Bondoc revisit criminal procedure.

“Ano ka ‘let me be the one to accept the warrant of arrest?’,” Taule said.