High drama in Senate: Fuming Bato races in, Sotto falls in power play

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa finally showed up at the Senate session hall on Monday with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents hot on his tail, in a bizarre turn of events that overshadowed the upper chamber’s leadership change.

CCTV footage showed the 64-year-old former Philippine National Police chief running up the stairway and stumbling once, with the agents in close pursuit.

When he entered the session hall, he was bursting with anger. His presence gave Senator Alan Peter Cayetano the 13 votes needed to unseat Senate President Vicente Sotto. Nine voted to retain Sotto while senators JV Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri abstained. 

Those who supported the leadership change aside from Cayetano were Dela Rosa and Senators Pia Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Go, Loren Legarda, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, Joel Villanueva, Mark Villar and Camille Villar.

Sotto was backed by Senators Bam Aquino, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Lito Lapid, Kiko Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, and Raffy Tulfo. Senators JV Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri abstained.

In line with parliamentary practice, both Cayetano and Sotto exchanged their votes, nominating one another to the presidency.

Aside from Cayetano being installed as Senate president, Legarda replaced Lacson as Senate president pro tempore, the second highest position.

Dela Rosa claimed NBI agents attempted to stop him from entering the Senate premises in an effort to stop the coup, after he had received a go-signal from the Senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms, a claim that Sotto debunked. 

“Only now have I seen this kind of government. A sitting [senator] is being blocked and not allowed to enter the session. This is the Senate! They have no respect for the institution of the Senate!” a fuming Dela Rosa told reporters, adding that he had “wrestled” with the NBI agents. 

He was given first aid for a bruised finger as a result of the altercation.

The NBI operatives and former Senator Antonio Trillanes were in the Senate premises to supposedly serve an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against the former PNP chief, who was named a co-perpetrator of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte in carrying out the latter’s deadly drug war. 

Trillanes showed reporters a copy of the supposed international warrant against Dela Rosa, despite the ICC, in a statement on 9 May, saying that no public arrest warrants had been issued in relation to the situation in the Philippines.

Based on the copy, the warrant was issued by the ICC on 6 November last year. 

Dela Rosa stopped reporting to the Senate after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said a warrant was already out for him in November. 

Senators allied with Dela Rosa criticized the NBI’s actions against a sitting senator, with Senator Rodante Marcoleta calling it an assault on the entire Senate as an institution. 

Marcoleta warned the NBI operatives could face legal action for violating Article 145 of the Revised Penal Code, which concerns parliamentary immunity. 

The provision penalizes the use of force, threats, or fraud to prevent members of Congress from attending sessions or voting, and restricts the arrest of members while Congress is in session.

Later in the session, Marcoleta moved to place Dela Rosa under Senate protective custody until the embattled former PNP chief exhausts all legal remedies to protect himself from the ICC warrant.

Citing previous instances where senators sought temporary refuge in the Senate amid prosecution, newly installed Senate President Alan Cayetano approved Marcoleta’s motion. 

The NBI agents, on the other hand, were cited for contempt and placed under Senate custody.

Earlier, the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group served a subpoena at Dela Rosa’s office, though his staff refused to accept it. 

The subpoena compels Dela Rosa to appear at the CIDG office in Camp Crame at 10 a.m. on Thursday in connection with its investigation of more than 100 alleged extrajudicial killing complaints during his Davao posting, which DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla said was a separate probe from that of the ICC.

The chase, confrontation, and subsequent move to place Dela Rosa under protective custody unfolded at a critical political time — just as senators voted to topple Sotto and install Cayetano, and as the House moved to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte — heightening tensions and casting a shadow over both proceedings. 

Meanwhile, NBI agents reportedly mauled a personnel of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSA) who tried to stop them from leaving the Senate compound. The operatives were earlier cited in contempt and ordered to be taken under Senate custody.