No ethics rap, no sanctions vs Bato despite over 2-month absence—Ping

No sanctions will be imposed against Senator Bato de la Rosa despite his months-long absence from work, unless an ethics case is brought against him, Senator Ping Lacson said Thursday.

Lacson’s remarks come in the wake of growing backlash over De la Rosa’s absence from the Senate since early November amid reports that his alleged International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant is out.

Lacson averred that the Senate can only do little concerning De a Rosa’s prolonged absence because the Senate cannot sanction a member without an ethics complaint, citing Congress’ rules.

“In the absence of any complaint filed before the ethics committee, which was constituted only recently, the Senate president or Senate leadership has no basis to sanction him,” he said in an interview.

However, in the case of successful filing, the imposition of a penalty—which may include suspension, withholding of salary, and expulsion, being the gravest sanction—is not yet guaranteed as it is subject to the majority’s approval.

The ethics committee, chaired by Senator JV Ejercito, is mandated to hold several hearings to determine the merits of the case. Once concluded, a committee report containing the findings and the sanctions shall be adopted by the plenary. Only then would a member of Congress face disciplinary action, depending on the severity of the violation.

“It is up to the ethics committee to make the proper interpretation. A serious offense must be a basis for suspension or expulsion, and such an action must have the votes of two-thirds of senators in the plenary," he said.

De la Rosa has gone into hiding since Ombudsman Boying Remulla announced in November that an ICC warrant is already out for him, though neither Malacañang nor the Department of the Interior and Local Government confirmed the existence of the said document.

Earlier this week, Lacson explicitly said he would not back any potential sanctions against his De la Rosa, given that he was in a similar situation to De la Rosa in 2010.

Lacson also went into hiding for over a year to evade arrest after being implicated in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court's 2011 decision to junk the charges against Lacson, clearing the way for his comeback.

Lacson stressed that while De la Rosa has not been physically reporting to work, his office is still functioning through his employee.

The senator claimed that De la Rosa remains unresponsive to his colleagues, even with his close allies, like Senator Bong Go.

The alleged warrant is in connection with the brutal anti-drug campaign waged by the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, now facing charges in the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, over allegations of crimes against humanity.

De la Rosa, who played a key role in the notorious drug war as Duterte’s first police chief, was publicly named in the ICC records, along with other law enforcers.

ICC documents showed that Duterte has nine co-perpetrators, though their names remain undisclosed since the records are heavily redacted.

De la Rosa is one with with, is expected to file the ethics complaint in May, coinciding with the lawmaker’s six-month absence from duty. allies and supporters of Duterte that the ICC no longer has jurisdiction over the Philippines, following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the tribunal's treaty, in March 2019.

The ICC, however, argued that it still retains jurisdiction over the alleged extrajudicial killings related to the drug war that were committed prior to the country’s exit, given that the preliminary probe had already commenced even before the country departed the treaty.