FOLLOWING REPORTS THAT the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued an arrest warrant against him, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa may have already gone into hiding as he has yet to report to the Senate for work since November 11.
This comes as a youth organization — the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK), cited the need for the Senate leadership to consider the idea of sanctioning Dela Rosa over continued absence.
“It is unbecoming of a public servant to not attend plenary sessions and defend his committee’s budget on the 2026 General Appropriations Act,” reads a statement issued by SPARK.
Dela Rosa’s long absence prompted Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to take over and defend the 2026 budget as committee chairman of the Department of Defense and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
“If a worker does not show up to work, they get no pay and may even be suspended if they continue to miss work for longer days. Meanwhile, senators such as Dela Rosa continue to receive wages from people’s taxes despite not showing up at work,” the group added.
The youth organization said that as public servants, the same sanction should also apply to absentee senators, even as the group dared Senate President Vicente Sotto III to lead the filing of an ethics complaint against Dela Rosa, whom they claimed didn’t even bother to notify the upper chamber on what looks more like an “indefinite leave.”
“We challenge Senate President Sotto: If you value your leadership and the integrity of the Senate as Senate President, you should lead in filing an ethics complaint against dela Rosa rather than airing it to social media and let the Ethics committee deliberate the merits of the complaint.”
Dela Rosa, who served as chief of the National Police during the previous administration, has previously admitted following orders from former President Rodrigo Duterte in relation to the war on drugs which resulted in the death of thousands of suspected drug users and pushers.
Duterte is currently in prison at The Hague, the Netherlands awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.
