Bato under Senate custody as ICC arrest looms
Things came to a head when agents of the National Bureau of Investigation tried to arrest Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at the Senate on Monday over his alleged role in the drug war before he and other senators voted to oust Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
After viewing the Senate’s security camera footage of the NBI agents chasing Dela Rosa to the Session Hall, the senators last night agreed to put him under the chamber’s protective custody, and hold the NBI agents in contempt.
Before the session began, a livid Dela Rosa strode into the packed plenary hall and lashed out at the Senate sergeant-at-arms for failing to protect him from the NBI agents, who reportedly came to serve a warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, along with former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
Dela Rosa, 64, claimed he suffered a cut in one hand after the NBI agents tried to block him, but he managed to “wrestle” his way inside the Senate building. He showed up on Monday after six months of absence.
“I am sure Trillanes is involved, Mr. President. He’s here,” Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief and one of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “co-perpetrators” in his crimes against humanity case in the ICC for the thousands killed in the drug war, later said on the floor after the vote to replace Sotto with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was carried.
ICC ‘warrant’
Trillanes showed reporters a “copy” of the ICC warrant for Dela Rosa, which he said was issued in November last year and was transmitted to the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) after the senator resurfaced on Monday. The ICC confirmed the authenticity of the warrant for Dela Rosa, without making any reference to Trillanes or the NBI.
“The International Criminal Court confirms that the document published by national authorities of the Republic of the Philippines and circulated in [the] media is indeed a formal ICC document,” the ICC said in a message to reporters.
According to the ICC, the warrant was issued confidentially and under seal by the Pre-Trial Chamber I on Nov. 6, 2025.
“We won’t let him get out anymore,” said Trillanes, who claimed he joined the NBI arresting team in response to Dela Rosa’s challenge.
In the end, the Senate agreed to place Dela Rosa under its protective custody after Sen. Rodante Marcoleta made such a motion “until he is able to get all and exhaust all legal remedies to protect himself and until this institution is able to do just the same.”
The body also agreed to hold the NBI agents in contempt and keep them under its custody. The Senate building was placed on full lockdown following their attempt to arrest Dela Rosa.
TRO vs arrest
On Monday afternoon, lawyers for Dela Rosa also sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court against his arrest.
“Our prayer before the Supreme Court is direct: We sought again the immediate issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction prohibiting any arrest, detention, turnover, transfer, rendition, or surrender of Senator Dela Rosa without a valid Philippine judicial warrant,’’ the law firm Torreon & Partners said in a Facebook post.
On Monday morning, personnel from the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) came to serve a subpoena on Dela Rosa at his Senate office compelling him to appear at its office in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Thursday morning and submit documents in relation to its investigation into extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.
Dela Rosa’s office said the CIDG left a copy of the subpoena but they did not receive it because “we are not authorized and there were no instructions from Sen. Bato.”
Capt. Larry Ray, CIDG chief investigator, however, said as far as the CIDG was concerned, the subpoena was already considered “received.” The subpoena was also served at Dela Rosa’s residence in Davao City.
It was the first time Dela Rosa showed up in the Senate since he went into hiding in November last year, when it was reported that the ICC had issued a warrant for his arrest.
‘Make my day’
On the floor, Dela Rosa moved for the expulsion of Trillanes and the NBI team from the Senate premises, but only after the NBI agents involved in the scuffle had been identified and brought to the courts for inquest. This was overtaken by other motions.
“As of now, Antonio Trillanes and some NBI operatives are still at the library. May I move that the Sergeant-at-Arms remove these people from the vicinity of the Senate,” he said.
“He is part of the harassment,” Dela Rosa said of Trillanes. “He’s included — he was the one who asked the NBI to block me. Why do we allow him to be here?”
“I hope before we allow them to leave, we must first identify those who blocked me and inquest them, file them a case, before we allow them to leave,” Dela Rosa added.
It was Cayetano who announced that Dela Rosa was in the building.
Trillanes said he was not present when Dela Rosa had a scuffle with the NBI agents.
“If I was there, he would have been tied up,” he said. “He said, ‘Make my day.’ Well, I’ll make his day. He told me to accompany him, so I’m here now. He personally asked me to accompany him if he were to be arrested.”
Human rights lawyer Kristina Conti, whose practice is recognized by the ICC, earlier said that Dela Rosa and other former high-ranking police officers could face a different set of crimes against humanity charges, specifically imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, for questionable arrests during the implementation of the drug war. —WITH REPORTS FROM ZACARIAN SARAO, MAILA AGER, JOHN ERIC MENDOZA AND KEITH CLORES
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