Bato reminds ‘Sir BBM’: ‘I’m not angry with you’
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa pleaded with President Marcos on Tuesday to “protect every Filipino” from being handed over to a foreign court that has “no jurisdiction” over the country, in apparent reference to the lawmaker’s own predicament.
Dela Rosa also reminded Mr. Marcos that, politics aside, he had held no personal grudges against the President—and vice versa.
“I am now appealing to you to take care of every Filipino so they are not taken to another country,’’ Dela Rosa said, addressing the President in an interview reporters at the Senate on Tuesday, a day after surfacing at the chamber after a six-month absence.
De la Rosa turned up on Monday to help allies muster enough votes to unseat Sen. Tito Sotto as Senate President and install Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano at the helm.
His sudden arrival the Senate led to one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the chamber, as a group composed of former Sen. Antonio Trillanes and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation tried to serve on Dela Rosa an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Security video clips later showed De La Rosa and his staff literally sprinting down the hallway and up the emergency staircase to evade Trillanes and the NBI team. Dela Rosa was seen tripping on the steps at one point.
Both hold ‘no grudges’
The next day, having spent the night at the Senate as protection from the ICC warrant, the ex-police general, who had repeatedly dared the international tribunal to come and get him, turned to Malacanang for assurance.
‘’Sir BBM, I am not angry with you and I also know that you do not harbor any personal grudge toward me,’’ he said, addressing the President by the initials of his nickname, Bongbong Marcos.
While agreeing that the ICC had ceased exercising jurisdiction over the country in 2019, when then President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Manila’s withdrawal from the court, the Marcos administration cooperated with the Interpol when it served an ICC warrant on Duterte in March 2025.
Arrested in Manila with the help of the local police, Duterte has since been detained at The Hague, the Netherlands, facing trial at the ICC for crimes against humanity over the killings attributed to his antinarcotics crackdown. The case covers deaths from time he was still Davao City mayor up to the first half of his presidency, or before he ordered the withdrawal from the ICC.
Dela Rosa is now wanted by the ICC as one of the ‘’coperpetrators’’ of the killings during his stint as Duterte’s first national police chief.
No salaries taken
Also on Tuesday, Dela Rosa said he did not get his salary as a senator during his six-month absence in the chamber.
“I was getting ashamed with the public who had been looking for me and saying I was receiving a salary, even though I don’t claim it,’’ he said.
He said he decided to surface on Monday for “these crucial moments’’ — referring to the Senate leadership coup pulled off by Duterte allies later in the day.
Dela Rosa was able to join 12 other senators and help raise enough votes to unseat Tito Sotto as Senate President and replace him with Alan Peter Cayetano.
According to Dela Rosa, it was only his staff members who received salaries allotted to his office during his absence.
Asked where exactly did he go during that period, he said: “Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I didn’t leave Philippine jurisdiction. I love the Philippines. I will live and die in this country.’’
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