CIDG: Robin helped Bato escape, liable for ‘obstruction’
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police is throwing the book at Sen. Robin Padilla for offering a ride to Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa in the latter’s predawn escape from the Senate building on May 14.
According to the CIDG, Padilla facilitated Dela Rosa’s “coordinated, preplanned logistical maneuver… to avoid detection.”
On Wednesday, agents of the CIDG and the National Bureau of Investigation went to four addresses in Metro Manila, Bulacan and Pampanga provinces to serve the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Dela Rosa, but failed to find him.
In a statement, the CIDG said it will refer a complaint for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1829, or obstruction of justice, against Padilla and other individuals “who facilitated the escape” of Dela Rosa to the prosecutors’ office of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Following a thorough investigation, the CIDG has officially concluded that the transport of Senator Dela Rosa was not a mere hitch ride on Senator Padilla’s car, but a highly coordinated, preplanned logistical maneuver specifically executed to avoid detection while escaping the Senate premises in the dawn of May 14, 2026,” it said.
Protective custody
There was no immediate comment from Padilla, who earlier claimed that Dela Rosa merely “hitched” a ride with him, and that he dropped him off in Makati City without asking about his destination. Padilla had also disputed reports that he and Dela Rosa “escaped” from the Senate, which he said was then swarming with law enforcers.
Dela Rosa rode in Padilla’s car from the Senate building in Pasay City to Makati before dawn of May 14, hours after the Senate was plunged into chaos by a shooting incident involving members of the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms and NBI agents.
On May 11, armed with the ICC warrant, a team of NBI agents tried to arrest Dela Rosa when he turned up in the Senate after six months in hiding. But the senator managed to elude them and get “protective custody” from the chamber, which was granted by then newly installed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.
Dela Rosa, who later asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on his arrest, holed himself up in the Senate building for three more nights before sneaking out.
On May 20, the high court denied Dela Rosa’s request for a TRO, though it clarified that the main issues he raised have yet to be resolved.
Still, the DOJ ordered the NBI and CIDG to enforce the ICC warrant on the senator, who is among the personalities tagged as co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity case filed against former President Rodrigo Duterte before the ICC. Dela Rosa served as PNP chief from 2016 to 2018 during Duterte’s term.
No ‘Bato’ sightings
The CIDG did not identify the other individuals who could face a similar complaint for obstruction of justice at the DOJ.
The PNP unit said that its investigators had established that there was another vehicle tailing Padilla’s car from the Senate to Makati on May 14, which served as “a security escort and backup car during the maneuver.”
“When individuals actively interfere in the arrest or assist in the evasion of criminal offenders to avoid prosecution, it undermines the justice system and compromises public order,” it said.
On Wednesday, teams from the CIDG and NBI failed to locate Dela Rosa in two addresses in Parañaque City, and one address each in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces.
Dela Rosa’s wife Nancy questioned the legality of the allegedly warrantless search conducted by the agents at the home of the senator’s friend, Cholly Abilla Cabanban, on Wednesday morning. She did not mention Cabanban’s address.
“Pwede ba ito? Papasok na lang kahit na kaninong bahay. Martial law na ba?” she wrote. (Is this legal? Entering anybody’s house just like that. Are we under martial law?)” Nancy said in a Facebook post. —WITH A REPORT FROM ISABELLE PECHAY
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