BI says dela Rosa still in PHL

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it has no record of Senator Ronald “Bato” M. dela Rosa departing the Philippines as of Thursday.

Immigration spokesperson Dana Krizia M. Sandoval said there was no indication that the lawmaker had left the country, amid rumors of him being spotted at Manila’s main airport following a night of chaos at the Senate.

“No recent record of travel,” Ms. Sandoval said in a message shared with reporters. But added, “Cannot answer for domestic [travel].”

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. late on Wednesday said he did not order the arrest of the 64-year-old Mr. dela Rosa, amid reports that authorities were moving to enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against the senator.

Meanwhile, a Duterte-aligned political faction on Thursday denounced alleged efforts by the Marcos administration to apprehend the ICC-wanted.

“The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) condemns in the strongest possible terms known to the universe the recent attempts by the Marcos administration to carry out the illegal arrest of Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a sitting legislator and a high-ranking official of the PDP, based on an alleged warrant issued by the International Criminal Court,” Ferdinand S. Topacio, spokesperson for the party, said in a statement in Filipino.

“We join the call of Senator Imee Marcos for her brother, the President, to award — at the very least — a preventive suspension to the personalities involved in the gross insult to the Senate, its members, and the law,” he added.

Mr. dela Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, is accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege he oversaw a common plan to neutralize drug personalities that led to at least 32 deaths between July 2016 and April 2018. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking