Senator Bato dela Rosa has emerged as the top absentee in the Senate, with 31 absences since the opening of the 20th Congress on 28 July last year, official records from the upper chamber showed. 

Senator Camille Villar, who went on maternity leave from October to January, ranked second with 16 absences, followed by Senator Alan Cayetano with 14.

The period spans 58 regular sessions, from July last year until Congress went to recess on 18 March.

Meanwhile, those with perfect attendance were Senate President Tito Sotto and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Robin Padilla, and Joel Villanueva.

Recall that De la Rosa has been absent from the Senate since 11 November last year, shortly after Ombudsman Boying Remulla announced that an International Criminal Court warrant is allegedly already out for him for his role in the notorious bloody drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In February, ICC prosecutors named De la Rosa, along with his ally—Senator Bong Go—as “co-perpetrators” by Duterte for his role as PNP chief, who oversaw the alleged summary killings.

During the confirmation of charges against Duterte in the same month, the ICC cited Memorandum Circular 16-2016, which was signed by De la Rosa on Duterte’s first day in office as chief executive.

The memorandum outlined general guidelines and tasks of police offices, units, and stations in the nationwide conduct of the brutal anti-drug campaign, dubbed as “Project Double Barrel,” most commonly known as “Oplan Tokhang” under Duterte’s watch.

ICC document showed that Duterte and his co-perpetrators shared a “common plan” to “neutralize” alleged criminals, including those suspected with ilegal drug use in the Philippines through “violent crimes, including murder.” 

Other co-perpetrators include ex-Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde—De la Rosa’s successor—as well as several Davao top police. 

De la Rosa has long criticized Duterte’s arrest on 11 March at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on an ICC warrant, citing the Philippines withdrawl from the Rome Statute—the tribunal’s founding treaty—in 2019. 

The ICC, however, insisted on retaining jurisdiction over the alleged crimes against humanity that were committed prior to the country’s exit, asserting that the preliminary probe had already commenced even before the country departed the treaty.

Sotto and De la Rosa’s allies in the minority bloc previously said they received no communication from him, though they said that his office continues to function despite his prolonged absence.

His continued absences cost him nearly all of his committee memberships, and resulted in the filing of an ethics complaint.

Civil society group ‘Wag Kang KuCorrupt’, headed by former Finance undersecretary Cielo Magno, lodged the case against De la Rosa in February, accusing him of not only “derelicting” his official duty, but also “gravely abusing” the privilege entrusted to him by the public as an elected official. 

The complainants wished to withhold De la Rosa’s salary, including his entire office, until he reports to work, though such a sanction is not covered by the Senate rules, according to Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges JV Ejercito.