By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has admitted regretting his decision not to arrest Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa inside the Senate in May, saying he made a mistake by honoring a prior agreement with Senate President Pro Tempore Alan Peter Cayetano.
“I dropped the ball. I should have arrested him in the Senate. Except there was an agreement right back then,” Remulla said in an interview with ANC on Monday, October 19.
Remulla said the incident changed how authorities would approach the arrest of lawmakers, recounting that he told Cayetano they had lost the privilege of allowing a senator to remain beyond the reach of law enforcement while inside Senate premises.
The International Criminal Court publicly disclosed its arrest warrant for Dela Rosa on May 11, when the senator appeared at the Senate after reportedly remaining out of public view for nearly six months.
Dela Rosa escaped on the early morning of May 14, hours after a shooting incident involving personnel of the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the National Bureau of Investigation.
He reportedly left the Senate aboard a van belonging to Sen. Robin Padilla, who faces complaints of obstruction of justice before the Department of Justice over his alleged role in helping Dela Rosa leave the premises.
Remulla said Dela Rosa was currently in Mindanao, under the protection of a “powerful group” with which the government was negotiating for the senator’s turnover.
Although the interior secretary maintained that authorities could arrest Dela Rosa, he ruled out a forceful tactical operation because of the potential risk to lives.
“We do not want a civil war to start because we arrest one man. We want to do it properly and we want to do it judiciously, and we want to do it cleanly,” Remulla said.
Dela Rosa is wanted by the ICC over alleged crimes against humanity involving murder in connection with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
According to the ICC, Dela Rosa is accused of involvement in the killings of at least 32 people allegedly committed between July 2016 and April 2018. The allegations remain subject to judicial proceedings.
ia/xf
