ASEANEWS HEADLINE-DU30 ICC EJK TRIAL | Dela Rosa leaves Senate with Padilla

MANILA, Philippines — Hours after chaos erupted at the Senate as he evaded uniformed armed men supposedly sent to arrest him on Wednesday, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa reportedly managed to slip out of the building at 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

At a press briefing later, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano confirmed that Dela Rosa had left the Senate building with Sen. Robinhood Padilla.

Cayetano said there was nothing wrong with it, and that Senate protective custody of Dela Rosa had ended.

“I don’t know if they left together or they both left. I’m just reading to you. I don’t know. I haven’t asked. I haven’t talked to Senator Padilla. But if they did, there’s nothing illegal with it,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano read a text message from Dela Rosa’s wife Nancy apologizing for the bother Dela Rosa’s stay at the Senate had caused.

“In behalf of my family, we would like to thank you and all the other Senators for all the support you have done for my husband. At the same time, I’d also like to ask for forgiveness for all the confusion and havoc it has created in the Senate,” Nancy’s text message to Cayetano read.

She reportedly told Cayetano of her husband’s concern that staying longer at the Senate premises would only further burden the Senate, even if he was sure that he would be safe in its custody.

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LAST LOOK Lawyer Israelito Torreon (right) posted this photo on social media late Wednesday night to prove that his client, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, remained at the Senate building—at least shortly after the shooting incident. —PHOTO FROM ISRAELITO TORREON FACEBOOK POST

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Nancy told Cayetano that the last time they talked Dela Rosa told her he would take advantage of the 72-hour period to make a comment on his petition before the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the International Criminal Court arrest warrant.

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READ: Dela Rosa seeks TRO from SC for 3rd time after his Senate reappearance

She said she was surprised to learn that he had slipped out of the Senate, and that he might have taken advantage of the melee caused by the shooting to escape.

Cayetano said he did not share the wife’s view that Dela Rosa “escaped” when he “left” the Senate building.

Not an escape

He repeated his view that the ICC arrest warrant is not valid without a local Philippine court warrant.

“As far as escaping, he did not escape. He chose to leave,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said Dela Rosa was not “under detention” but under “Senate protective custody.”

“When you escape, you are under arrest, you are under detention. So everyone, including his wife, used the word escape, but actually he did not escape – in the technical, legal sense,” the Senate president said.

Cayetano said he’s wishing Dela Rosa all the best, now that he is “on his own.”

“We’re praying for him and I hope he’ll be OK,” he said.

Cayetano held the press briefing amid speculations that the shootout was “staged” and was a “diversionary tactic” to let Dela Rosa escape.

Cayetano turned emotional when asked if it was really an “attack.”

A report to him by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla stated that the shootout was triggered by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca seeing an NBI agent named “Francisco”with an AR 15 slung on his side.

The shootout happened in front of a plywood wall dividing the Senate side and that of the GSIS on the second floor, where several committee rooms and the press office are located. The Senate is renting a portion of the GSIS building.

When Aplasca asked who was the agent on the other side and learned it was NBI, Aplasca fired a warning shot causing Francisco to also point his firearm.

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At least 27 rounds of gunfire were discharged from the Senate OSAA side, while Francisco retaliated with just five rounds. The shootout lasted three minutes from 7:46 p.m. to 7:49 p.m.

“If I point a gun at you, enter your house carrying a gun, and you fire a warning shot and I fire back – is it not an attack? Sorry, but I don’t think there’s any question: The Senate is under attack – was under attack!” Cayetano said, slamming his hand on the rostrum.

“All of you, all of you, your lives were in danger last night! I know it’s your job to ask a question, but you will tell me, pagka may nagpaputok na warning, hindi under attack yun? My God, we’re a democracy! This is the Senate of the Philippines. Please naman!” he added.

Cayetano said he was told by Remulla that the “NBI had no warrant to serve” and that they were merely in the adjacent GSIS building supposedly to “secure” the building as requested by GSIS General Manager Wick Veloso.

He argued that the Senate just allowed Dela Rosa to “voluntarily leave” because he is being tagged as a suspect in crimes against humanity before a “foreign court” and not before a domestic court.

“What we’re protecting actually is the sanctity of the Senate, not him. Like any other citizen, he has his rights. As a person, as Alan Cayetano, as a lawyer, I’ll protect his rights, kahit saan siya,” Cayetano said.

Senate responsibility

At a Palace briefing, NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the Senate has the responsibility to present Dela Rosa if he needs to appear before the court or any agency because he is under its protective custody. There was no recent record of Dela Rosa leaving the country, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

Asked to react to information that Dela Rosa was no longer at the Senate, Matibag replied: “Well, that is sad because I feel that our discussion on that should be honored. I believe that our senators are respectable… We think they would protect not only senator Bato, but also the prevailing law and Constitution.”

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Nartatez Jr. emphasized that Dela Rosa would not receive special treatment even if he is a former PNP chief. “We implement the law without fear or favor,” he said.

For former Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Domingo Cayosa,  senators who allowed Dela Rosa to slip out of the Senate should be held liable.

“Yes, [there’s] possibly legal liability. It depends on the Department of Justice if they will file that case,” Cayosa told One News’ “Storycon” yesterday.

“It depends on the DOJ and its investigation. If they can put it together, I think the subsequent decision of the senators to allow him to leave and hide again could be evidence or an indication of their knowingly frustrating the service of that warrant,” Cayosa stressed.

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“When you impede, frustrate the administration of justice or the investigation, apprehension or persecution of criminal offenders—crimes against humanity is a criminal offense—then that’s obstruction of justice. The only qualification there is ‘knowingly,’” the former IBP chief stressed.

“Let’s remember that the accessory penalty of obstruction of justice is perpetual disqualification,” Cayosa emphasized.

Senators condemned the firing of weapons at the Senate last Wednesday. Sen. Risa Hontiveros denied insinuations from Sen. Imee Marcos that the minority senators had prior knowledge of the shooting but did not inform members of the majority.

“There is only one reason some bad faith actors are trying very hard to make this controversial event about me and other minority senators and the times we went home. All this for a man who simply doesn’t want to face the law. That’s it. That’s the whole story,” Hontiveros said.

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Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri called the incident a “breach of public safety and instutional security.”

Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc as well as the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan also denounced the Senate leadership’s allowing Dela Rosa to escape. Alexis Romero, EJ Macababbad, Daphne Galvez, Emmanuel Tupas, Ghio Ong, Evelyn Macairan, Artemio Dumlao, Rudy Santos