Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is no longer inside the Senate building after reportedly leaving the premises before dawn Thursday, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano confirmed.
Cayetano said the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms had informed him through a partial incident report that dela Rosa was no longer in the building. He said he was still waiting for the complete report to determine the exact time the senator left.
“The sergeant-at-arms confirmed that he is no longer in the building. I am waiting for the complete incident report,” Cayetano said in a press briefing.
A senator earlier said a Senate secretariat employee had relayed information that dela Rosa left the Senate at around 2:30 am.
Cayetano said dela Rosa’s wife also sent him text messages apologizing for the disruption caused by the senator’s stay at the Senate, where he had been placed under protective custody amid reports of a possible arrest attempt related to an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.
According to Cayetano, Mrs. dela Rosa said her husband had initially planned to remain at the Senate while awaiting court action on his appeal for a temporary restraining order against the ICC warrant. However, she said the senator decided to leave after the shooting incident on Wednesday night, when confusion reportedly spread inside the compound.
Cayetano said dela Rosa appeared to have left out of concern that his continued presence would further affect Senate employees, officials and other people inside the building.
The Senate President maintained that there was nothing illegal about dela Rosa’s departure, saying the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had not furnished the Senate with a copy of any arrest warrant.
“We did not arrest Senator Bato. We extended the courtesy and tradition of the Senate that arrests cannot be made inside the Senate,” Cayetano said. “He is not under arrest from any of us. So as far as we are concerned, there is no warrant of arrest for him.”
He said dela Rosa’s departure was the senator’s own decision and that he only learned about it from Senator Jinggoy Estrada around noon Thursday.
Cayetano also dismissed suggestions that Senator Robin Padilla could face charges over reports that dela Rosa left the Senate premises with him. He said there could be no obstruction of justice if no warrant had been presented to the Senate.
The Senate President likewise denied that the shooting incident inside the Senate on Wednesday night was staged as a diversion to allow dela Rosa to leave.
“If it was a diversionary tactic, it was crazy,” Cayetano said, noting that the incident drew more people and police to the area. He also said the word “escape” was inaccurate because, in the absence of a warrant presented to the Senate, dela Rosa was free to leave.
Cayetano clarified, however, that he was not categorically saying no warrant existed. He said only that the NBI had not shown or given the Senate a copy.
“If they gave us the warrant, my advice would have been different,” he said.
With dela Rosa’s departure, Cayetano said the protective custody extended to him by the Senate had effectively ended because the senator had voluntarily left its protection.
He said they will not take “judicial notice” of the warrant of arrest on dela Rosa if the hard copy was not presented.