On Monday, May 18, the Senate convened as an impeachment court, beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. But Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, one of the Duterte family’s most staunch supporters in the upper chamber, is nowhere to be found.
The impeachment court was convened a week after 13 senators voted to oust Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as Senate president and replace him with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and five days after dela Rosa left the Senate’s protective custody amid an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
During the convening of the impeachment court, Cayetano took oath as presiding officer of Duterte’s trial, and the senators took their oath as judges. Cayetano also issued a writ of summons on Duterte, directing her to respond to the complaints against her within 10 days, and requiring her to appear before the impeachment court should they summon her.
A Waning Allyship?
Duterte is currently in The Hague, Netherlands, to visit her father, Rodrigo Duterte, at the ICC’s detention facility. Dela Rosa is expected to join him to face the charge of crimes against humanity, in relation to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. After Rodrigo’s arrest in March 2025, dela Rosa said, “I am ready to join the old man hoping that [the ICC] would allow me to take care of him.”
However, dela Rosa seems to have changed his tune. In November 2025, amid rumors that an arrest warrant was out for the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, he stopped attending Senate sessions, drawing criticism for being paid a full salary despite his absences, and for supposedly evading arrest.
He finally appeared in the Senate on May 11, joining Duterte-allied senators to install Cayetano as Senate president. That day, dela Rosa refused to answer questions regarding his return to the Senate, and later revealed that he was pursued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) supposedly to arrest him. Later that evening, the ICC unsealed its arrest warrant against dela Rosa, revealing that it had been issued as secret in November 2025. Dela Rosa, having been placed under the upper chamber’s protective custody, spent the night at the Senate.
Who Planned Bato’s Return?
In an interview with broadcast journalist Jessica Soho, dela Rosa revealed that Cayetano had asked him to return to the Senate specifically for Sotto’s ouster. “Tinawagan ako ng aking mga ka-Senador na kailangang nandito ako sa Senado para sumumpa,” he told Soho. “So kung hindi ako dumating, hindi namin makuha ‘yung leadership dahil nga ako ang contempted [sic] vote.”
He also said that he was not certain whose vehicle he rode in on the way to the Senate, but Cayetano later admitted that it was his van.
The interview was taped on May 13, hours before the Senate was placed on lockdown as an alleged shootout took place between Senate forces and NBI agents. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca reportedly initiated the exchange of gunfire by firing a warning shot. But the NBI says it was not there to arrest dela Rosa, and was instead asked by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to provide security at the adjacent GSIS building amid protests at the Senate.
Dela Rosa reportedly left the Senate in the early morning of May 14, hours after the shootout. NBI Director Melvin Matibag says that Sen. Robin Padilla, dela Rosa’s friend and another Duterte ally, is a “person of interest” in the senator’s escape, telling ANC that Padilla “should be the first to answer when we ask them, ‘Where is Senator Bato?’” He also said that Cayetano “owes an explanation” to the public, as he had led efforts to place dela Rosa in protective custody.
On Sunday, May 17, PNP Chief General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said that the police agency is conducting an internal investigation regarding allegations that police escorted dela Rosa out of the Senate and facilitated his escape. Philstar reports that this comes after a video circulated online showing a white police vehicle leaving the Senate compound with a black van, suspected of carrying dela Rosa, at the time the senator was reported to have left.
Whether dela Rosa will resurface soon, with his arrest warrant and an obligation to appear as a senator-judge in Duterte’s impeachment trial, remains to be seen.
Frequently Asked Questions
In the Senate majority, Senate President Alan Petey Cayetano is joined by Acting Majority Floor Leader Joel Villanueva, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Senators Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Robin Padilla, Mark Villar, Camille Villar, Pia Cayetano, Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta, and Imee Marcos.
According to Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima and senators from the minority bloc, there are no provisions in the Constitution and laws stating that a senator with a valid warrant of arrest cannot be arrested within Senate premises. De Lima and fellow ex-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV have both been arrested in the Senate during their tenures in the upper chamber.
Impeachment proceedings officially begin with the Senate convening as an impeachment court. This took place on May 18. Vice President Sara Duterte must respond to the charges against her within 10 days of receiving a writ of summons. If she fails to issue a response within the given period, the Senate must proceed with a trial.
As of May 18, 6:50 p.m., Bato dela Rosa’s whereabouts are unknown.
Sara Duterte and her defense counsel must draft and file a letter addressing each of the four impeachment complaints against her.
Pre-trial Chamber I of the ICC found reasonable grounds to believe that Bato dela Rosa is “allegedly criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator” of killings related to the war on drugs, according to the ICC.
