Senator Robin Padilla on Friday firmly denied allegations that he helped Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa escape the Senate building in the early hours of May 14, following a high-tension shooting incident on the premises the previous night.
In a press release from his office and an interview with Net 25, Padilla clarified that he merely gave Dela Rosa a ride to Makati City after exiting the legislative chamber before dawn.
He emphasized that their departure was entirely unobstructed and fully visible to law enforcement.
“Paano kami tatakas? Ang daming pulis sa loob at labas ng Senado, may CCTV pa. Wala namang humarang sa amin,” Padilla said.
How are we supposed to escape? There are many police inside and outside the Senate, and there’s CCTV. Nobody blocked us.
According to Padilla, he decided to leave the Senate after telling Dela Rosa that he needed to head home because his wife was already looking for him.
“Ang sabi ni Sen. Bato, ‘Sasabay na ko.’ Alangan naming tanggihan ko yun? Walang sasakyan si Sen. Bato dahil inihatid lang sya sa Senado ng sasakyan ni Senador Alan Peter Cayetano,” Padilla explained.
Sen. Bato said, “I’ll ride with you.” How could I refuse that? Sen. Bato didn’t have a car because he was only dropped off at the Senate by the vehicle of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.
The press release noted that Dela Rosa alighted in Makati City, where his personal vehicle picked him up. Padilla stated he did not ask Dela Rosa about his destination afterward.
The clearance of the Senate premises occurred amid heightened legal scrutiny surrounding Dela Rosa, the former national police chief who spearheaded the Rodrigo Duterte administration’s deadly anti-drug campaign from 2016 to 2018. The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently unsealed an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, accusing him and Duterte of crimes against humanity.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has since classified Dela Rosa as a “fugitive” after the Supreme Court issued an interim ruling denying the senator’s petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO), effectively clearing the path for local authorities to enforce the ICC warrant. Dela Rosa’s legal counsel stated they plan to appeal the High Court’s ruling.
Padilla, however, pushed back heavily against the DOJ’s branding of his colleague.
“Para sa ICF, hindi siya fugitive. Hindi ko matanggap na basta na lang natin tatawaging ganoon dahil sinabi ng dayuhan. Kailangan din nating igalang ang sarili nating proseso bilang bansa,” Padilla asserted.
For me, he is not a fugitive. I cannot accept that we will just call him that because a foreigner said so. We also need to respect our own process as a country.
Human rights monitors estimate that the drug war claimed thousands of lives, primarily targeting low-level users and dealers in impoverished urban communities. Official Philippine police records indicate that over 6,000 suspects were killed in legitimate law enforcement operations during the crackdown.
Former President Duterte was arrested last year and is currently awaiting trial at The Hague.