A white Fortuner registered under the name of Sen. Robin Padilla was identified by the Philippine National Police as the vehicle used by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa when he slipped out of the Senate complex in the early hours of May 14, days after taking refuge there to avoid an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
PNP chief Jose Melencio Nartatez, Jr. said footage captured at around 2:30 a.m. shows Dela Rosa and Padilla walking toward the vehicle before it left the premises. Nartatez said he intends to submit the video to the Department of Justice.
“The timeline is May 14 already at about 2:30 a.m. It shows the white Fortuner and personalities going out from the Senate, particularly ang makita natin doon ang Senator Bato and Senator Padilla and going to the vehicle na Fortuner,” Nartatez said. “Per records inquiry, it is owned by Senator Padilla,” he added.
Dela Rosa had been sheltering inside the Senate since May 11, when Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano brought him there after government agents nearly detained him, chasing him up a stairwell. Cayetano had barred authorities from serving the ICC warrant within Senate grounds, and Dela Rosa publicly vowed to resist any attempt to transfer him to the Netherlands-based court.
The situation turned violent on May 13, when Senate security personnel and a National Bureau of Investigation employee discharged their firearms into the air during a standoff at the complex, sending legislators scrambling into their offices. Dela Rosa’s absence was only discovered after police announced the arrest of a suspect in connection with the shooting.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said that once the Senate declared Dela Rosa under its protective custody, the institution assumed an obligation to surrender him when no legal barrier remained.
“Sa simpleng pagkakaintindi po namin, noong sinabing nasa protective custody nila, nasa kanila si Senator Bato kaya pag wala na yung legal impediment to serving the warrant, dapat ‘pag hiningi sa kanila ng Department of Justice, ready dapat ang Senado i-turn over si Senator Bato,” Vida said.
When asked what legal recourse the DOJ would pursue if the Senate had failed to comply, Vida declined to commit to a specific course of action: “Then that’s something we need to decide at that moment. I don’t want to preclude yung legal options ng Department of Justice.”
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla separately noted that before the shooting erupted, Dela Rosa had been formally placed under Senate protective custody — a status that, according to Vida, carried with it the corresponding duty to hand him over upon demand.
Dela Rosa served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018, overseeing the early years of then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which left thousands dead and forms the basis of the ICC allegations against him. Duterte himself was arrested in March last year and is currently detained at The Hague pending trial.
