MANILA — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla announced on Tuesday, October 20, that ongoing negotiations are securing the peaceful surrender of embattled Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to avert potential violent confrontations.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime, Remulla defended the government’s approach, explaining that a direct, forced arrest could spark a bloody standoff with an unnamed armed group protecting the senator in Mindanao.
He noted that Dela Rosa is heavily guarded and backed by significant financial resources.
“He’s hidden deep. They are very financially, have a lot of armed men. We have to (negotiate), otherwise if we go in hard, the body bags will be high,” Remulla emphasized.
Highlighting a preference for diplomacy over force, Remulla stated, “that problems are not always solved with hammer, sometimes you solve things better in a more peaceful and humane way.”
He added, “In exchange for hanggang 10,000 puwede mamatay, I would rather negotiate first than cost the lives of Filipinos in this (Dela Rosa’s capture).”
Remulla expressed deep regret over missing an opportunity to arrest Dela Rosa last May following the senator’s brief Senate appearance after months of absence, which preceded reports of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant where Dela Rosa faces charges as a co-perpetrator in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity case.
He admitted that trusting a former “gentleman’s agreement” with then-Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano—who assured the chamber would take custody—was a major miscalculation.
“These people (Senate people) aren’t gentlemen. I dropped the ball. I should’ve arrested him at the Senate,” Remulla said, vowing to reject any future informal pacts used as legal shields.
“There will be no more gentlemen’s agreements. I will no longer honor them. If they treat us with disrespect, I will respond in kind. Not in the sense that I will break any laws, but they should not use such agreements as a shield to prevent us from enforcing the law,” he maintained.
Despite the complexities involved, the Interior chief expressed optimism that authorities are nearing a resolution.
“But obstructions to the cost of body bags are not worth it so we will do it in the proper way and we will get him in the proper way without the cost of human lives. We are almost there. Yung mga akalang simple ang ganitong klaseng bagay, hindi po. It is a very complicated job and it involves a lot of moving parts but we are almost there,” he concluded.