MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa is now "effectively contained" as he returned to the Senate after over five months of hiding supposedly to evade the arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Lacson said that Dela Rosa's problem "is that while his freedom was limited when he was outside the Senate, he still had his freedom."
"Now that he's in the Senate, he is effectively contained because once he goes out, there is the unsealed warrant of the International Criminal Court, but that's another story," Lacson said.
Dela Rosa's case, he added, can set a good legal precedent as it will determine if a domestic or Philippine court's order is mandatory for the enforcement of an ICC warrant.
Lacson also questioned any "mutual agreement" between the Senate leadership and law enforcement agencies regarding Dela Rosa's custody, as well as the Senate leadership's move to cite in contempt the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who pursued Dela Rosa through the Senate hallways to serve the ICC warrant of arrest.
He said if the offense was not simultaneous and did not occur during a committee hearing, they should be cited for indirect contempt and ordered to show cause and explain why they should not be cited in direct contempt.
