SENATE President Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday said he will allow Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to seek sanctuary in the Senate even while Congress is on recess once the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues a warrant for his arrest.
Dela Rosa is a co-respondent in the crimes against humanity case filed against former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is now under the custody of the ICC following his arrest last week.
In a press conference, Escudero said there have been a number of instances in the past when sitting senators were issued arrest warrants by the court and Senate leaders barred police authorities from serving the warrants while the subject senator is “inside the Senate premises.”
Escudero clarified that Dela Rosa did not specifically made a request to take refuge in the Senate but only inquired what options were in case the ICC orders his arrest.
He said that while he did not give legal advice to Dela Rosa since he is not his legal counsel, he gave him the option to stay in the Senate.
“Hindi ito naka-base sa batas pero naka-base sa tinatawag na institutional courtesy. Hindi papayagan ng Senado ang arestuhin ang sinumang miyembro niya sa loob ng Senate, lalo na kung merong sesyon (This is not based on a law but on what we call institutional courtesy. The Senate will not allow a senator to be arrested especially when there is a session),” Escudero said.
Escudero’s remark runs counter to that of former Senate president Franklin Drilon’s opinion that the Senate cannot protect Dela Rosa from being arrested when Congress is on recess and when the penalty for the crime is more than six years imprisonment.
He said Drilon is “right in one sense” but they have seen in past incidents that law enforcement agencies were prevented from entering the Senate premises to serve an arrest warrant on a sitting senator whether Congress is in session or on recess out of institutional courtesy.
He said Dela Rosa can stay at the Senate until he has exhausted all available legal remedies or until he voluntarily surrenders to authorities.
“Hindi naman sa habang panahon. Hangga’t mabigyan siya ng sapat na panahon na magkaroon ng linaw o pagpapasya yung kanyang judicial remedies (This will not be forever, but only to give him enough time that his judicial remedies be resolved or decided upon by the court),” he added.
“Magpapatuloy ang kaso pero hindi puwedeng arestuhin (The case will continue but he cannot be arrested [inside the Senate premises]),” he said.
“Ang sinabi ko sa kanya (Dela Rosa), we will try to afford him every opportunity to avail of legal remedies that he is entitled to… So, ibig sabihin, hindi lang siya aarestuhin inside the premises of the Senate (I told him [Dela Rosa] that we will try to afford him every opportunity to avail of legal remedies that he is entitled to…So, this only means that he will not be arrested inside the premises of the Senate),” he said.
Escudero cited examples where senators have sought refuge in the Senate, including the case of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile who on February 27, 1990 was issued a warrant of arrest for “rebellion complexed with murder” while a Senate session was in progress.
He said that the late Senate president Jovito Salonga barred agents of the National Bureau of Investigation to serve the arrest warrant, but Enrile surrendered to the NBI outside the Senate premises shortly after he delivered a privilege speech.
On August 2003, Drilon said Sen. Gregorio Honasan cannot be arrested without a warrant of arrest for his supposed involvement in the Oakwood mutiny.
Escudero said Enrile, who was the Senate president in 2010, also did not allow lawmen from arresting then Sen. Panfilo Lacson for double murder while the Senate was in session “and that it will be up to the authorities to locate him” after the former senator fled the country.
In June 2014, Drilon again prevented authorities from arresting senators Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. inside the Senate premises even if the Senate was in compulsory recess. The three were indicted for plunder in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
Enrile, Estrada, and Revilla all surrendered to authorities the day their respective arrest warrants were issued by the Sandiganbayan on different dates.
Escudero said the same happened in the case of then Sen. Leila de Lima who spent one night inside the Senate and surrendered the following day just outside the Senate VIP parking area on charges of illegal drugs.
He said that on September 4, 2018, then Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV started to seek sanctuary in the Senate and left the premises after 25 days or September 29, 2018 after the Makati City Regional Trial Court hearing the coup d’ etat charges against him deferred the issuance of an arrest warrant.
The same court denied the government petition to arrest Trillanes in October 2018. In March 2021, the Court of Appeals dismissed the case against Trillanes, and in April 2024, the Supreme Court declared as void the revocation of Trillanes’ amnesty.
ALBAYALDE
Former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde yesterday he is prepared in case the ICC orders his arrest for crimes against humanity.
Albayalde issued the statement amid talks that he and Dela Rosa might also be ordered arrested by the ICC as co-conspirator of Duterte.
Dela Rosa and Albayalde were the first two PNP chiefs to serve during the Duterte administration and both played key roles in Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs that left thousands of people dead.
Albayalde said talks about his impending arrest are “mere speculations” as of now “although we are preparing, we can exhaust all legal means.”
“But at the end of the day, everything depends on the government,” said Albayalde, referring to his possible turnover to the custody of the ICC.
“We saw what happened to no less than the former president. We’re just an ordinary citizen,” he said.
Albayalde defended the previous administration campaign against illegal drugs, specifically the Oplan Barrel which is composed of Project Tokhang (house-to-house visit to convince drug users to surrender) and Project High Value Target (geared towards drug dealers and drug syndicates).
“Its just a normal operational plan of the PNP. There was no mention there of killing (people) and at the same time, we have no order (to kill people),” said Albayalde.
He said there were even “special instructions” to policemen to follow the rule of law and respect human rights in implementing Oplan Double Barrel.
While acknowledging that Duterte have publicly mentioned the killing of drug personalities, Albayalde said the former president did not issue direct orders to the PNP leadership.
“We (PNP) did not issue such order to our policemen (to kill drug personalities) because we know we are law enforcers,” he said.
he also noted that policemen who committed abuses in the war against illegal drugs have been arrested and promptly charged in court.
‘LEGAL IMPLICATIONS’
Dela Rosa warned of legal implications if the Marcos administration will continue to implement any arrest warrant from the ICC.
“Ito ang masasabi ko sa inyo, lahat nang ginagawa nila ay illegal kasi yung warrant of arrest na kanilang sine-serve sa atin, hindi yan nanggagaling sa competent authority (I have one thing to say, everything that they are doing is illegal because the warrant of arrest that they will serve on us did not come from a competent authority),” Dela Rosa said.
Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro taunted Dela Rosa that he should have gone to The Hague with Duterte if he really does not believe that the ICC is a competent authority.
Castro also asked Dela Rosa if his reason for skipping the Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) rally in Hong Kong and his failure to visit Duterte at The Hague – like what PDP chairman and fellow senator Robin Padilla did – had anything to do with the reported possible issuance of a warrant of arrest by the ICC against him.
“Hindi ba competent authority ang ICC sa paningin po ni Senator Bato?…Sa aking pagkaka-alam, kung hindi ako nagkakamali, may narinig na din daw po siya na magkakaroon ng warrant of arrest, kaya hindi po siya yata napunta sa HongKong (Is the ICC not competent in the eyes of Senator Bato?… as far as I know, if I am not mistaken, he has heard that a warrant for his arrest will be issued which is why he did not go to Hong Kong)” she said.
“Kung talagang alam niya na walang warrant of arrest issued by a competent authority, matapang sinamahan ang dating Pangulong Duterte, and as a matter of fact, dapat nga nauna pa siya kay Senator Robin pumunta sa Netherlands (if he was aware that there was no warrant of arrest issued by a competent authority, he should have bravely joined former president Duterte, and as a matter of fact, he should have gone ahead of Senator Robin at the Netherlands),” she added.
Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in a virtual press conference from The Hague, said he will serve as a lawyer for Dela Rosa and four other former PNP should they be named as co-perpetrators in the case against Duterte in the ICC.
Roque also said Padilla was in The Netherlands and requested to visit Duterte because he is the chairman of PDP and he was seeking guidance from the former president on the next steps of the political party. Duterte is the president of PDP. – With Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor
