MANILA, Philippines – National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag said Senator Robin Padilla, who left with Senator Robin “Bato” dela Rosa hours after gunfire broke out in the Senate premises, is now a “person of interest” in Dela Rosa’s escape.

“Person of interest in the sense that they should be the first to answer when we ask them, ‘Where is Senator Bato?’ Matibag said in an interview on ANC’s Dateline Philippines on Friday, May 15.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca is also considered a person of interest, according to Matibag.

Though he did not place Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano in the same category, the NBI chief said Cayetano owed the public an “explanation” on the incident, owing to his earlier statement that Dela Rosa was under the Senate’s “protective custody.”

“In my view, not a person of interest, but someone who owes an explanation to the public is Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, because they placed Senator Bato under protective custody, preventing us from arresting him last Monday because we respected their resolution,” Matibag added.

Cayetano confirmed on Thursday, May 14, that Dela Rosa left with Padilla at 2:30 am on Thursday, May 14, hours after a gunfire broke out between NBI men and Office of Sergeant-at-Arms personnel, on the bridge connecting the offices of the Senate and the GSIS in Pasay City.

The NBI were on the GSIS side of the bridge when they were found by Senate security. They were securing the door on that side upon the request of GSIS management due to security concerns over what was transpiring on the Senate side of the building.

Dela Rosa had been absent from the Senate since November, but surprisingly attended the plenary session on Monday, May 11, to take part in the successful coup against Cayetano’s predecessor, Tito Sotto.

Following his election as Senate president, Cayetano’s first order of business was to place Dela Rosa under the Senate’s protective custody, as he exhausts all legal remedies to his International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant stemming from his role as co-conspirator in Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.

After Dela Rosa’s exit from Senate premises, Cayetano rejected the framing that his ally “escaped,” since the former police chief, in his belief, was “free to go” anytime.

Cayetano does not recognize the ICC warrant because it was not presented to them.

The ICC warrant is a valid and confirmed document. Dela Rosa even went to the Supreme Court to try to stop local authorities from enforcing the warrant.

The ICC continues to have jurisidiction over the drug war case because the investigation began before the Philippines withdrew from the Rome statute.

Republic Act (RA) No. 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity also mandates the country to enforce a warrant issued by an international tribunal. – Rappler.com