Standing before an Iglesia ni Cristo crowd at Liwasang Bonifacio on July 2, Senator Robin Padilla drew a sharp line between the obstruction of justice complaint pending against him at home and what he described as a separate warrant issued from abroad.
The senator told the gathering that authorities were closing in on members of the Senate minority one by one, and framed his own situation as the next in line. “Iniisa-isa na po kami. Hindi po magtatagal, masu-shoot na naman ako [sa kulungan]. Ang katanungan na lang ngayon kung ako po’y isu-shoot dito o ipadadala ako sa Hague,” he said, according to Abante.
Padilla maintained that the local accusation had no basis. “Kasi ‘yung kaso ko obstruction of justice na ang warrant of arrest galing sa ICC eh… dayuhan. Wala naman akong obstruction of justice dito,” he added. He offered no documentation for the claimed International Criminal Court warrant against him, and no reputable outlet has independently confirmed that the tribunal has moved against the senator.
The obstruction case that is on record traces to the predawn hours of May 14, when Dela Rosa left the Senate compound in Padilla’s vehicle days after National Bureau of Investigation agents attempted to serve an ICC arrest warrant on the former police chief. The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group later concluded that the trip was no ordinary lift. Investigators described it as a coordinated, preplanned maneuver meant to avoid detection, and said a second vehicle trailed Padilla’s car as a backup escort, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Padilla has consistently rejected that reading of events. He has said Dela Rosa only asked to ride out of the Senate and was dropped off in Makati City, where another vehicle was waiting, and that he never asked where his colleague was headed.
The CIDG referred a complaint for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1829 to the Department of Justice, which its National Prosecution Service confirmed receiving on May 28, according to Rappler. A separate obstruction complaint was lodged before the Office of the Ombudsman by the civil society group Tindig Pilipinas on June 3, naming Padilla alongside Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and suspended acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca, Philstar reported.
At the rally, Padilla turned to the audience for support, urging Filipinos not to allow those he cast as truth-tellers to be jailed. “Ang pakiusap ko mga kababayan ko… mga kapatid kong Muslim… mga kapatid nating Katoliko, Kristiyano… walang pupuntahan ang bayan natin kung ang mga katulad naming pinapahiwatig sa inyo kung anong katotohanan eh hahayaan n’yo kaming makulong,” he said.
The warrant that authorities have actually been trying to enforce belongs to Dela Rosa, who is wanted by the ICC over his alleged role as an indirect co-perpetrator in crimes against humanity tied to the anti-drug campaign, covering a period in which at least 32 people were killed.
