At large again: Bato sneaks out of Senate
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa made a predawn escape on Thursday from the Senate where he was given safe refuge after agents from the National Bureau of Investigation failed to arrest him earlier in the week on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
The senator slipped out around 2:30 a.m., hours after gunshots erupted inside the Senate building, throwing staff and journalists into panic as personnel from the chamber’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Osaa) exchanged fire with a group of unidentified armed men. (See related story on Page A4)
Dela Rosa left “together with” Sen. Robinhood Padilla, one of his staunchest allies, according to Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, quoting a report by Osaa. Cayetano said the report did not say whether the two senators rode in the same vehicle.
There were no gunshot injuries from the shooting that lasted around three minutes along a corridor on the second floor of the Senate building, Cayetano said, angrily denouncing the “attack against the Senate.”
‘Protective custody’
Last Monday, senators decided to take Dela Rosa under their “protective custody” after he broke free from NBI agents trying to arrest him. He dashed several floors up the Senate building and into his office. Later at the Session Hall, he denounced the NBI action.
Cayetano said Dela Rosa was free to leave the Senate as there was no local case against him and no local court had issued an arrest warrant for him.
“In that sense, it’s like he left protective custody voluntarily,” the Senate leader said. Cayetano, a lawyer, added that in a “legal technical sense,” Dela Rosa did not escape.
He said that the senator’s wife, Nancy, sent him a long text message to explain that her husband left the Senate for its own safety and to spare it from his personal troubles.
“It is for this reason I am sure that Ronald decided to ‘escape,’” she said in a text message to Cayetano, which he read to reporters.
“He told me that the longer he stays inside the Senate, more people would be affected,” she said. “No matter how safe he must have felt inside the Senate, everyone’s safety was still more important to him.”
According to Nancy, when she left the Senate at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, her husband told her he would “stay put” there because it was safer for him.
Israelito Torreon, Dela Rosa’s legal counsel, met with reporters close to midnight after things had settled down and showed pictures of him with the senator which he said was taken before speaking with them.
Torreon posted another picture of him and the senator on his social media account at 1:11 a.m. on Thursday, dismissing rumors of Dela Rosa’s escape.
By Thursday morning, various sources, including one senator, cited a Senate secretariat report that said Dela Rosa left the premises around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Cayetano, who said he left the Senate before midnight on Wednesday told reporters that he learned that Dela Rosa had slipped out around noon on Thursday.
Senate’s responsibility
“I ordered the sergeant-at-arms to go to the offices and check if Senator Bato is still around or not and to give me a spot report about the report that he left at 2:30 a.m,” he told reporters prior to his afternoon press conference.
Malacañang press officer Claire Castro had earlier confirmed during a Palace press briefing on Wednesday night’s shooting incident that the senator had already left the Senate, citing information from “several sources.”
NBI Director Melvin Matibag, who was present at the press briefing, said it was the Senate’s responsibility to surrender Dela Rosa to authorities in compliance with the ICC warrant after the senators gave him “protective custody.”
“I believe our senators, our honorable senators, were the ones who asked for that arrangement, and as far as we know, they intended to protect not only Senator Bato but also the laws and constitutional provisions currently in force,” he said.
Matibag declined to comment when asked about speculations that Wednesday night’s incident was “staged” to conceal Dela Rosa’s possible escape, deferring to an ongoing investigation and official response from the Department of Justice.
“But to be honest, that’s the sentiment of our NBI agents,” he said.
According to Matibag, Dela Rosa as a former law enforcer and chief of the Philippine National Police, had in the past called on fugitives to peacefully submit to authorities so there would be “no more chaos, no more pursuit, and so you can face your responsibility under the law.”
He insisted that the warrant issued by the ICC came from a “competent court” and “should be respected.”
Dela Rosa, 64, is accused of being a “co-perpetrator” of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder in connection with the brutal drug war.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing as chief implementer of the war on drugs as Duterte’s first national police chief, demanding that any case against him should be tried by a Philippine court.
‘Unacceptable’
Dela Rosa disappeared from public view and had been absent from the Senate since November 2025 when word spread that an ICC arrest had been issued against him.
The ICC “secret” warrant was issued on Nov. 6, 2025, and unsealed or made public on May 11.
Dela Rosa appeared at the Senate last Monday and voted for Cayetano when senators known to be allied with Duterte maneuvered a change in leadership.
On Thursday, several senators strongly condemned the violence that erupted on Wednesday night and demanded explanation from the Senate leadership on why Dela Rosa managed to slip out of the Senate premises.
“There is a lot of buzz about the news that Sen. Bato Dela Rosa has escaped. I strongly call on the Senate leadership and the Sergeant-at-arms to explain to the public whether the news that is coming out is true or not,” said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian in a statement before Cayetano held his press conference.
He strongly condemned the gunfire within the Senate premises, saying that it was “unacceptable” that lives were put at risk.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who is also a member of the minority like Gatchalian, also called for a thorough probe.
“We need to get to the bottom of this. The Filipino people deserve a full, independent, and unobstructed accounting. No cover-up,” she said.
Gatchalian also denied claims that prior to the chaos that ensued inside the Senate building, senators received a warning to leave the building early.
“That’s not true,” he said. Gatchalian said he and his staff left at 7 p.m., which was routinary for them.
Sen. Miguel Zubiri, citing “a breach of public safety and institutional security,” said the police must give the public a clear timeline, identify the perpetrators and determine how armed men were able to enter, fire shots and get away from a seat of government.
Bam seeks probe
“Violence must never enter the halls of the Senate. The Senate is a place where debates should freely happen, for laws and services, not a place for violence or intimidation,” Zubiri added.
Sen. Bam Aquino filed a resolution seeking a probe into the shooting, saying the incident raised “serious concerns” regarding security, institutional integrity, the safety of employees, stakeholders, and guests, and proper coordination among government bodies.
He stressed that the Senate, as a fundamental democratic institution, “must preserve its integrity, orderly functioning, and constitutional independence at all times.” —WITH REPORTS FROM KEITH CLORES, LUISA CABATO AND DEXTER CABALZA
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