Bato dela Rosa’s escape: Timeline, analyses, opinions from experts

MANILA, Philippines – From a “monumental blunder,” to a case of the powerful shielding its own, the great Senate escape of Senator Bato dela Rosa has been called many things.

Our newsroom and contributing experts have been hard at work piecing together the facts and timeline of events, contemplating the implications of this debacle, and battling the barrage of disinformation.

Here are some of the best pieces on Rappler to help you make sense of the mess:

• TIMELINE: Senate shooting incident

Our reporters who were at the Senate during the shooting weave together the events, including warnings from Senate staff before the gunshots and the media’s last sighting of Senator Dela Rosa.

• Obstruction of justice in the Senate

Lawyer Tony La Viña says what happened at the Senate proves that Philippine institutions cannot be trusted to deliver justice to drug war victims, and why Bato and former president Rodrigo Duterte need to be tried before the International Criminal Court.

• Barzaga falsely claims multiple deaths, assassination attempts after Senate shooting

Disinformation narratives went on hyperdrive in the hours after the shooting incident.

• PH may surrender suspects to international court, says DOJ

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and pro-Duterte online armies claim surrendering Dela Rosa to the ICC is illegal. But what do Philippine laws actually say? Jairo Bolledo provides this analysis.

• [Pastilan] Bato vs staircase: The sprint that ended the myth

Our Mindanao bureau coordinator Herbie Gomez’s headline encapsulates what the senator lost during that mad chase.

• Was Senate chaos ‘staged’ to help Dela Rosa? NBI agents think so, says Matibag

A diversion to help Bato escape? The NBI chief, himself a former ally of Rodrigo Duterte through PDP-Laban ties, thinks so.

Want more of our journalism and expert pieces? Here are ways you can tune into our coverage, and never miss key developments:

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Bookmark this page as we bring you the latest developments on Dela Rosa’s attempt to evade the ICC, the tensions at the Senate, and the wider political fallout from the saga.

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– Rappler.com