When the Senate becomes a public spectacle, everyone is watching
Just when you think the Senate has sunk to a record low, it plumbs new depths.
That spectacle in the chamber this week starring “the rolling stone,” Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, has turned the country into a laughingstock. The Philippines has again drawn global media attention—for all the wrong reasons.
New Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano has passionately denied speculative reports that the gunfire at the Senate was staged to allow a senator wanted for crimes against humanity to escape.
Still, for his stellar performance in the defense of the architect and chief enforcer of Oplan Tokhang, Cayetano deserves to be the running mate in 2028 of Vice President Sara Duterte, rather than rumored VP wannabes Imee Marcos and Rodante Marcoleta.
If he seeks higher office, Cayetano will have to brace for any skeletons that might come tumbling out of the closet.
Acting runner-up awards (for “the Senate is under attack!”) can also be given to SP Alan Peter’s sister Pia (what a disappointment, although I guess blood runs thicker than water).
As for the rest of the actors at Wednesday’s zarzuela, from the genuine Duterte diehard supporters to the incorrigible political butterflies, they have been behaving true to form since the latest Senate leadership change.
Senate sergeant-at-arms retired police Maj. Gen. Mao Aplasca delivered an award-winning performance to protect his Philippine Military
Academy mistah Dela Rosa (Aplasca, originally of Bato’s Class ’86, was delayed by a year and became part of PMA Class ’87).
Senator Bato left the Senate yesterday reportedly at around 2:30 a.m., the witching hour.
In a press conference, SP Cayetano stressed that in the technical and legal sense, Dela Rosa “did not escape; he chose to leave” the Senate together with BFF Sen. Robinhood Padilla.
Perhaps, the SP said, the man who had gone into hiding for nearly seven months to escape arrest merely went for a snack: “Baka nagpunta lang sa Burger King.”
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Cayetano said he was not shown the ICC warrant by the NBI, which had tried to enforce it on Monday, when Dela Rosa finally surfaced and arrived at the Senate in what Cayetano admitted was his vehicle. Dela Rosa’s in-person attendance contributed to Cayetano getting the needed numbers to replace Tito Sotto as Senate chief.
This triggered speculations on whether Dela Rosa had holed up in Cayetano’s home since going into hiding in mid-November.
Dela Rosa left the Senate yesterday together with Padilla, Cayetano said, adding that Dela Rosa is no longer under Senate protective custody.
Considering Dela Rosa’s record, he’s unlikely to surface again.
While some lawyers would dispute Cayetano’s take on the technical and legal sense of Dela Rosa’s leaving the Senate, President Marcos himself actually gave the green light for it, when he told the nation on Wednesday night that he had instructed the NBI not to arrest the embattled senator.
It was a short speech by BBM, with no clarity on how long Dela Rosa would remain free from arrest, and whether he would be under state monitoring while the government and the new Senate majority wait for the Supreme Court to resolve questions on the legality of his being surrendered to the ICC for trial together with his bossing Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity.
The government needs consistency here. If it says it is recognizing the proceedings in the ICC as allowed under Republic Act 9851, the Philippine law covering crimes against humanity, then it must recognize an ICC arrest warrant and enforce it.
And if ICC procedures and arrest warrants are recognized by the state, those who prevent the enforcement of the arrest must be held liable for obstruction of justice.
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Senators are not immune from prosecution for this, which is an offense under Presidential Decree 1829. While the penalty is relatively light—four to six years in prison and/or a fine of P1,000 to P6,000—it includes perpetual disqualification from holding public office if the convicted offender is a public official.
It’s touching to hear senators calling for prosecution in a local court of Dela Rosa, for possible crimes against humanity committed in his role as police chief and enforcer of the brutal war on drugs waged by Rodrigo Duterte.
Pro-Duterte senators led by SP Cayetano are insisting on a local arrest warrant to cover Dela Rosa.
But surely they are fully aware that the ICC had to step in precisely because of the failure under the Philippine legal system to hold anyone accountable for any possible violation of RA 9851. Local prosecution of Rodrigo Duterte and his minions for the war on drugs? Dream on.
That disgusting spectacle at the Senate, complete with what appears to have been diversionary gunfire, would be hilarious if we weren’t bearing the ugly consequences of the joke. Too many members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives have placed themselves above the law, cloaking themselves with privileges limited only by their imagination, and systematically looting public coffers with impunity.
Ordinary people are asking each other: do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in such a country?
Do the younger generations like what’s happening around them? Are they proud to be Filipinos?
The Senate has become a national disgrace.
This article originally appeared on The Philippine STAR.
