FIRING LINE: ‘No manhunt’ for Bato

FIRING LINE: ‘No manhunt’ for Bato

By Robert B. Roque Jr. | May 19, 2026

Senator Ronald dela Rosa should stop comforting himself with the phrase “no manhunt.” Because even if authorities refuse to call it that for now, all indications point to one reality: his world is getting smaller.

Border controls are up. Leads are reportedly being pursued. The Department of Justice now openly confirms the existence of a valid ICC warrant. Even the Office of the Solicitor General has branded him a “fugitive from justice.” At this point, the only thing missing is the final hand reaching for his shoulder.

And should Bato be arrested?

Yes.

Because, despite all the confusion, drama, and conflicting narratives surrounding those tumultuous days in the Senate, nothing erases the obvious: his actions are those of a fugitive desperately trying to evade lawful process. A man appealing to fellow cavaliers in the PMA, leaning on political allies, mobilizing law enforcement connections, and seeking civilian protectors while hiding behind technicalities and institutional cover.

Flight, after all, has long been treated in law as indicative of guilt or, at the very least, consciousness of guilt. Ironically, even Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla himself pointed this out months ago.

And if it is true, as his wife reportedly told Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, that dela Rosa slipped out of the Senate before dawn to “spare everyone from harm,” then the logical conclusion should be obvious even to him: if danger follows his presence, then surrendering himself to the judicial process is precisely how further danger is avoided.

Instead, what followed was disgraceful.

The Senate of the Philippines — supposedly one of the highest institutions of democracy — descended into a scene involving gunfire, conflicting accounts, and allegations of staged violence. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca admittedly fired the first shot. For that alone, his suspension is justified. But accountability cannot stop there. Reports also point to an alleged civilian NBI operative discharging a weapon. If Aplasca is being suspended, then someone high up in the National Bureau of Investigation must also answer.

What do you say, NBI Director Melvin Matibag?

And now comes the most disturbing possibility of all. Matibag himself, citing former senator Panfilo Lacson’s own investigative maxim about “means, motive, and opportunity,” floated the theory that the confrontation may have been staged to create the perfect distraction for Bato’s escape from the Senate.

Based on time logs and whispers circulating within the halls of the august chamber, another name has allegedly surfaced in Bato’s great escape — Sen. Robinhood Padilla. Whether fair or not, some have now mockingly dubbed the supposed operation “Bat and Robin” — referring to the alleged collusion between Padilla and Dela Rosa to spirit the latter out of Senate protective custody and away from law enforcement.

As for rumors involving a yacht, chopper, and covert extraction plans, those are now matters the Philippine National Police (PNP) must seriously investigate, especially after reports emerged that police vehicles may have accompanied dela Rosa’s departure from the Senate compound.

Interestingly, former PNP chief and now MMDA head Nicolas Torre III pointed out that ICC warrants coursed through Interpol pass through the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, which holds office inside Camp Crame. It baffles me then why Secretary Jonvic Remulla has played coy about the existence of the warrant, if his very own brother Ombudsman Boying Remulla had always been forthright about its existence.

What’s clear is that all these contradictions, uncertainty, and confusion over whether an ICC or local court warrant must exist to be enforceable, help only the cause of a fugitive burying himself deeper into hiding.

There may be “no manhunt,” Senator Bato. But your world is definitely shrinking. And perhaps that is poetic justice.

Because if ordinary Filipinos once feared nameless men appearing in the dead of night during the drug war, then perhaps it is only fitting that responsible civilians now help authorities locate one of the campaign’s alleged principal architects.

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