A high-stakes dispute broke out at the Senate on Monday when the Senate President strongly opposed the arrest of Senator Jinggoy Estrada within the halls of Congress.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla disclosed that Alan Peter Cayetano firmly stood his ground, arguing that law enforcement officers are barred from executing arrests inside the legislative building.
“He was insisting that nobody could be arrested inside the Senate,” Remulla said during a press briefing.
According to Remulla, the Senate leader attempted to block the immediate execution of a non-bailable plunder warrant on-site. Instead, Cayetano proposed that Estrada be led outside the Senate gates before being taken into custody.
“He was requesting that he be brought out of the Senate first,” Remulla said.
As police officers prepared to serve the warrant, Cayetano maintained that allowing executive branch agents to make an arrest inside the building breached traditional institutional boundaries respected by past administrations.
“Respect the institution, this is not about Jinggoy,” Cayetano said.
However, Remulla shot down the request, asserting that the Senate lost its claim to such institutional courtesy after Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa previously fled the complex during a past incident.
“Sir, I’m sorry, you lost that privilege when Bato escaped,” Remulla told Cayetano.
The tense standoff concluded when an operative from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) read Estrada his Miranda rights inside the building, paving the way for his transfer to Camp Crame.
The confrontation stemmed from an arrest warrant issued earlier that day by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division against Estrada over a ₱573-million plunder case connected to an alleged flood control fund scam.
Remulla later noted that the friction quickly dissipated, allowing him and Cayetano to settle the issue calmly.
“We’re fine. Magkasama kami rito sa taas, we were talking afterwards and he understood,” he said.