Monday’s dramatic Senate leadership change and the National Bureau of Investigation’s attempt to nab Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) offered entertaining political theater for many Filipinos craving content, including the media. It had all the elements of drama and comedy, depending on which side you’re inclined to support or find humorous.
I am no longer astonished by political spectacles. In over 40 years in journalism, I have witnessed enough events to know that what occurred last Monday was worse. It’s naive to think that people won’t exploit opportunities to advance their own interests. Most politicians are cut from the same cloth.
When I was a young reporter covering the Senate during the time of a true patriot, Senate President Jovito Salonga, the NBI headed by Alfredo Lim, a former senator, served a court-issued arrest warrant on Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on 17 February 1990 in the Senate on charges of rebellion in connection with failed coup attempts against the Cory Aquino administration.
Salonga refused to allow Enrile to be arrested on the Senate premises during a session. Hours of a standstill and chaos ensued, but there was no violence.
Enrile then delivered an emotional speech in the plenary before voluntarily surrendering to Lim, who was quietly sitting with his men in the session hall, waiting for Enrile to finish.
Lim only stood when Enrile himself said he was ready. I followed Enrile all the way to Camp Karingal in Quezon City, where he was detained until his release after the Supreme Court dismissed the case, ruling that rebellion cannot be combined with other crimes.
That was then, this is now. That was Salonga, this is Sotto. That was Lim, this is new NBI director Melvin Matibag. Spot the difference.
It would have been an ordinary arrest by the NBI, fully coordinated with then Senate President Vicente Sotto, who permitted the NBI to proceed, with complimentary merienda in his office, had it not been for this crucial twist. Unlike Salonga, Sotto did not inform the other senators about the impending arrest.
Dela Rosa, absent from the Senate for many months, sneaked in and ran all the way up to the plenary with the NBI agents in hot pursuit. That chase was critical, as it might have prevented him from casting the 13th vote needed to elect a new Senate President, Alan Peter Cayetano and oust Sotto.
The ICC’s arrest warrant is the international community’s call for accountability, particularly in response to serious allegations of human rights violations. Even the Department of Justice, NBI’s mother ship, stresses the legal framework available for handling such requests.
Republic Act 9851 serves as the bedrock of this statutory process, embodying the legal framework for addressing crimes against humanity. The potential to act on the ICC’s request under this law demonstrates a pathway to accountability. If only Sotto and Matibag had handled the political zarzuela better.
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