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Marc Jayson Cayabyab - The Philippine Star
May 23, 2026 | 12:00am
Sen. Robin Padilla speaks during the Senate plenary session on May 13, 2026, calling on Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan to issue a formal apology for raising his voice during the previous day’s session.
The Philippine STAR / Ryan Baldemor
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Robinhood Padilla yesterday denied helping Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa “escape” from the Senate building hours after gunfire erupted on May 13.
Speaking to Net25, Padilla stressed his position that the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Dela Rosa for crimes against humanity is not valid without a local court warrant.
Recounting his conversations with Dela Rosa before they exited the Senate at 2:30 a.m. on May 14, Padilla said the Senate security did not stop them from leaving the building.
Padilla said he was about to go home when Dela Rosa asked to join him in leaving the Senate premises.
For Padilla, this was not a grand plan to escape and take advantage of the shooting incident a few hours earlier between the Senate security and the National Bureau of Investigation agents.
“What Senator Bato said was, ‘I’ll join you.’ How can I refuse that? Senator Bato had no car because he was brought to the Senate by a vehicle from Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano,” Padilla said.
“How could we escape? There were many policemen inside and outside the Senate. There’s also CCTV. Nobody blocked us,” he said.
Padilla said Dela Rosa asked to be dropped off in Makati, where he was picked up by a separate vehicle.
Padilla maintains that he does not know where Dela Rosa went or his current whereabouts.
Padilla refused to call his ally a fugitive, as he repeated their position that Filipinos should be tried in local courts and not before the ICC in The Hague.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has stood by the validity of the ICC warrant against Dela Rosa, a suspect and co-perpetrator in former president Rodrigo Duterte’s crime against humanity for their alleged state-sanctioned killings in their war on drugs.
Authorities have been alerted to arrest Dela Rosa after he failed to secure a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court to stop his impending arrest. He is now declared a fugitive from justice.
Police said Padilla could face criminal cases if he is found to be giving refuge to Dela Rosa.
Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, gave the warning after Padilla admitted Dela Rosa was in his vehicle when he left the Senate hours after a shooting incident in the building.
Morico said Padilla could face obstruction of justice cases if Dela Rosa is found in his properties.
“It depends – if Dela Rosa is at Padilla’s house, if we caught Dela Rosa in Padilla’s house, he could face an obstruction of justice charge,” Morico explained.
Morico has deployed tracker teams to hunt down Dela Rosa following the DOJ’s directive to apprehend the senator and former chief of the Philippine National Police. — Emmanuel Tupas
