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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
January 21, 2026 | 5:48pm
Senate Finance Subcommittee E Chair Bato Dela Rosa leads the hearing on the approved P295.18 billion 2026 Department of National Defense budget, focusing on Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization reform.
Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa via Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bato Dela Rosa, who has been absent from the Senate for almost two months, said that he was “alive and well” and awaiting “justice.”
In a statement posted on the Senate’s website on Wednesday, January 21, Dela Rosa broke his silence on his 64th birthday.
“I am waiting. Waiting, for a true seeking for justice to emerge and take over. Not this threat of fake and foreign meddling, from those who do not and can never know us or be us. If indeed there are cases against me, then I wait for a time and a certainty that I shall be able to face these cases as a Filipino, before Filipinos,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa has been missing ever since rumors of an impending arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) circulated, further fueled by comments from Ombudsman Boying Remulla.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte has already been arrested and turned over to the ICC for crimes against humanity in relation to the bloody war on drugs.
Dela Rosa, Duterte’s police chief, is rumored to be next.
The missing senator said that if he were to be tried for any alleged crimes, however, he wanted it to be in a Philippine court.
Refusing to be arrested by a “foreign court” is “patriotism”, Dela Rosa insisted.
“I remain patient and composed. I remain dignified,” the senator said.
The war on drugs saw the deaths of at least 30,000 people, drawing condemnation from local and international human rights groups.
