MANILA, Philippines – Senator Robinhood Padilla, now considered a “person of interest” in the escape of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, said the fleeing lawmaker merely hitched a ride after slipping out of the Senate in the early hours of May 14.

Padilla said he was only being polite when he allowed his friend and political ally to join him in his vehicle when he left the Senate premises. Padilla was the last senator, based on Senate records, who left hours after tension gripped the upper chamber due to an exchange of gunfire.

He told Net25, “Ang sabi ni Senator Bato, ‘Sasabay na ko.’ Alangan naming tanggihan ko ‘yun? Walang sasakyan si Senator Bato dahil inihatid lang sya sa Senado ng sasakyan ni Senador Alan Peter Cayetano.”

(Dela Rosa asked me if he could hitch a ride. Should I have refused him? He didn’t have a vehicle because he came to the Senate riding Senator Cayetano’s car.)

Hours after the Wednesday night exchange of gunfire in the Senate, Padilla said he told Dela Rosa that he (Padilla) needed to go home.

Padilla said Dela Rosa disembarked in Makati, where a vehicle was already waiting for the former police general. He claimed he did not ask where his friend was going next.

Dela Rosa Rosa is facing arrest under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with a crimes against humanity case tied to the bloody drug war of the Duterte administration. He served as then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s first national police chief and is widely regarded as the architect of the brutal campaign.

Based on the ICC warrant, Dela Rosa bears “alleged criminal responsibility as an indirect co-perpetrator” in the killings committed from July 3, 2016 to the end of April 2018, during which at least 32 people were killed.

After months of staying away from the Senate and keeping out of public view, Dela Rosa resurfaced two Mondays ago, May 11, to help Duterte allies oust then-Senate president Vicente Sotto III, backing efforts to replace him with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate head.

With Cayetano as Senate president, Dela Rosa was subsequently placed under the Senate’s “protective custody” and stayed there for three days, shielded from the ICC warrant and accompanied by Padilla who did not leave the upper chamber until the wee hours, two Thursdays ago.

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, May 20, did not grant Dela Rosa’s motion for a temporary restraining order or a status quo ante order that would have blocked his arrest and possible transfer to The Hague, Netherlands.

As a result, he was declared a “fugitive” – a label Padilla assailed – and ordered arrested by the justice department.

Padilla said, “Para sa akin, hindi siya fugitive. Hindi ko matanggap na basta na lang natin tatawaging ganoon dahil sinabi ng dayuhan. Kailangan din nating igalang ang sarili nating proseso bilang bansa.”
(For me, he’s not a fugitive. I can’t accept that we would just call him that simply because  foreigners said so. We also need to respect our own process as a country.) – Rappler.com