Senator Robin Padilla on Friday cried foul over reports tagging him and Senator Bato de la Rosa’s exit from the Senate in the wee hours of 14 May as “escape,” insisting that there was “no attempt to evade authorities.” 

CCTV footage from the Senate showed Padilla escorted De la Rosa in leaving the Senate premises around 2:30 a.m., or hours after tensions from the 13 May shooting eased, notwithstanding a warrant from the International Criminal Court. 

He asserted, however, that their exit was not unlawful because there was no warrant from a Philippine court yet. Despite this, he denied facilitating De la Rosa’s getaway, saying it was the embattled former PNP chief who suggested hitching a ride with him. 

“How could we escape? There were many police inside and outside the Senate. There were also CCTVs. No one stopped us, Padilla stressed.

Padilla and De la Rosa are allies from PDP-Laban, formerly chaired by ex-president Rodrigo Duterte. 

Padilla reportedly stayed with De la Rosa in the Senate—where the latter sought refuge to evade ICC arrest—for three days since his return on 11 May, after six months of not reporting to work. 

Due to the gunfire incident, Padilla allegedly informed De la Rosa that he would go home to his family, but De la Rosa purportedly asked to go with him because he had no means of transport. 

Another CCTV footage showed that De la Rosa boarded a white SUV in the Senate parking at around 2:30 a.m. Preliminary probe by the PNP revealed that the vehicle was registered under Padilla’s name.

“Sen. Bato said, ‘I’ll go with you.’ How could I say no?” Padilla added. 

Padilla averred that he dropped De la Rosa somewhere in Makati, where his driver picked him up. Padilla said he did not bother to ask De la Rosa where he would be headed afterward. 

Earlier this week, Justice Secretary Frederick Vida warned that accomplices of De la Rosa could face legal consequences for allowing him to evade the ICC warrant. 

Aside from domestic laws, Vida said they could also be held accountable under the ICC.

The National Bureau of Investigation has tagged Padilla and suspended Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca as persons of interest for allegedly being accessories to Dela Rosa’s “escape” from the Senate despite an outstanding ICC warrant. 

NBI Director Melvin Matibag has repeatedly denied that he deployed NBI agents to the Senate during the incident to arrest De la Rosa anew following their first botched attempt to serve the warrant on 11 May. This, as they honored the Senate’s protective custody of De la Rosa. 

De la Rosa is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity over the alleged extrajudicial killings allegedly committed between November 2011 and March 2019—spanning Duterte’s tenure as Davao mayor and as the country’s chief executive. 

A nationwide manhunt operation for De la Rosa has already been launched. As of Friday, the CIDG confirmed that De la Rosa is still in the Philippines. 

In case he flees, the ICC can tap the 125 state parties to the Rome Statute to enforce the warrant against De la Rosa. Of the 125 state parties, 19 are from the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Korea, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. 

The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, in 2019 on Duterte’s order.