Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the chamber’s newly installed leadership to safeguard the Senate’s integrity after a day that saw barricades go up around the building, a senator flee through its halls, and the entire institution trend on social media for reasons that had nothing to do with legislation.
“Nakakalungkot at nakakahiya na pinagtatawanan ng marami sa ating mga kababayan ang Senado ngayon,” Hontiveros said. “Alam kong marami ang nadismaya, nasaktan, at nagalit, at sa totoo lang, naiintindihan ko kung bakit.”
Hontiveros was among the nine senators who voted to retain Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as Senate President. The 13-9 vote on May 11 installed former Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano as the chamber’s new presiding officer — a shift that unfolded simultaneously with an attempted arrest inside the building and a House vote to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time.
The chaos began when Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa — absent from Senate sessions since November 2025 — returned to the plenary to vote in the leadership race. National Bureau of Investigation agents, accompanied by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, entered the Senate premises reportedly to serve an ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa in connection with the war on drugs killings under the Duterte administration. CCTV footage released by the Senate showed individuals giving chase to Dela Rosa inside the building. He emerged in the session hall visibly out of breath, showing wounded fingers he claimed he sustained during a confrontation with NBI personnel.
The Senate was subsequently placed on lockdown, with barbed wire installed at several entrances. Cayetano ordered the NBI agents cited for contempt, directed the Senate sergeant-at-arms to detain them on the premises, and authorized coordination with the Pasay City PNP. Senator Rodante Marcoleta moved to place Dela Rosa under Senate protective custody, which the majority approved. Cayetano stated the Senate under his watch would not allow Dela Rosa’s arrest unless a warrant was issued by a Philippine court.
The ICC confirmed later that evening that the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa is a formal ICC document, issued under seal on November 6, 2025, by its Pre-Trial Chamber I. It named Dela Rosa as an alleged indirect co-perpetrator in the deaths of at least 32 individuals between July 2016 and April 2018.
Against this backdrop, Hontiveros said the Senate could not afford to let its powers and traditions become instruments for avoiding legal accountability. “The Senate must not become a mockery in the face of the Filipino people, especially when the public is looking to us to faithfully perform our Constitutional duties,” she said. She described the scenes inside the building — a chase on the staircase, a standoff between security and law enforcement, a Senate employee injured — as damaging not just to one bloc, but to the institution as a whole. “Walang panalo sa ganyan,” she said.
The senator called for a return to proper processes and accountability. “Ibalik natin ang respeto, ang maayos na proseso, at ang pananagutan sa ating institusyon,” she said, adding that her commitment to seeking answers on corruption and unexplained wealth, and to demanding accountability from those who abuse power, would not waver. “Tuloy tayo sa pagsasabi ng totoo,” she said. “Hindi tayo tumiklop noon, hindi tayo titiklop ngayon.”
Dela Rosa, for his part, filed an urgent petition before the Supreme Court the same day, seeking judicial protection against what his legal counsel described as a multi-layered enforcement strategy that bypasses the constitutional requirement for a Philippine court-issued warrant.
