NOBODY expected that on May 11, 2026, what appeared to be an ordinary uneventful day would commence a three-day series of swirling and unexpected events that would place the Senate in a political cauldron, by way of a jolting reappearance of Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa from an aberrant absence of six months to a change of leadership in the august body, the crude and irregular attempt by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents to arrest the runaway senator, which led to the siege of the Senate building by armed NBI operatives under the guise of securing the adjacent Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
The unexpected appearance of Senator Bato was the tipping point in ousting “Eat Bulaga” entertainer Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as Senate president, putting in his stead Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, with the minority senators becoming the majority and vice versa.
Obviously, the NBI bungled its job by not making the proper representation and coordination with the previous Senate head and the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) vis-à-vis the placing in custody of Senator Bato.
The eager-beaver NBI agents did not effect the proper service of the warrant of arrest said to be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was never shown to Senator Bato prior to the arrest attempt, nor was it made available to the new Senate president despite the latter’s request to the NBI director for its production.
Worse, despite the agreement between Senator Cayetano and NBI Director Melvin Matibag that no arrest would be affected until the warrant is produced or until the Supreme Court has ruled on the prayer for a temporary restraining order (TRO) by Senator Bato with the court, armed NBI agents surrounded the legislative building, using the GSIS president’s request for security as the NBI’s excuse for camping within the premises of the Senate building. Again, no coordination was made between the NBI agents and the OSAA personnel on the former’s presence that led to the burst of gunfire between the two sides, which necessarily caused panic and fear on the senators and the Senate employees.
Following a lull in the chaotic situation, concerned that his continued presence would endanger the lives of his colleagues and the Senate employees, Senator Bato requested Sen. Robin Padilla to hitch a ride with him in leaving the place. Subsequently, the authorities declared him a fugitive from justice.
The turmoil that erupted birthed negative reactions, adverse accusations from the side of minority senators who left before the shooting bedlam, and from their majority colleagues who selflessly opted to remain to secure the safety of the Senate: employees and their fellow senators.
As an aftermath of the disruptive turbulence, Sen. Pia Cayetano delivered an emotional and teary speech as a reaction to a stale and unproductive remarks of another female senator.
A motion to amend the rules allowing online voting and participation in the deliberations during Senate sessions despite being physically absent, precipitated an angry and combative opposition from three minority senators, accusing those who are supporting the proposed amendment of railroading the process. They claim that amendment move is solely intended to favor the runaway Senator Bato, who changed the political equation in the upper legislative body by his reappearance.
In the face of a determined effort by government authorities to put him in the same tragic fate that befell former president Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Bato made another disappearing act, hoping that the Supreme Court would give him injunctive relief before the authorities succeeded in arresting him and whisking him off to the ICC detention facility.
As a reaction to the amendment motion, the minority senators staged an uncharacteristic, unprecedented and immature collective action, by walking out of the session hall. Such abhorrent and unparliamentary behavior halted the passage of the said motion owing to an absence of a quorum.
The minority senators, in opposing the motion to amend the rules, deliberately ignored the fact that such amendment would benefit all of them, not just Senator Bato, because there would be circumstances where they could not be physically present in the session hall but they could still participate in the deliberations and vote via online or Zoom, which will benefit the people as a whole because the latter would not be deprived of being represented in the debates on matters of legislating needed laws for the development and betterment of the country, the very task for which they were elected.
No senator should be excluded from any deliberations on proposed legislations, even if they are incarcerated in prison for as long as there is no final conviction for whatever crimes charged them and no penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold office is imposed. It is a senator’s right and duty to participate and vote on issues deliberated in the Senate. A deprivation of such right and reneging on that duty defeat the very purpose of being a member of a deliberative body.
The present childish chaotic situation in the Senate started when the chief architect of the country’s foreign policy violated his repeated public pronouncement that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines following its effective withdraw as a member thereof, that the government would not cooperate in any form or shape with the ICC in its investigation and prosecution of former president Duterte, and that he would not honor any ICC issued warrant of arrest against Duterte. In doing the opposite of his official pronouncements, he blatantly violated the Constitution, as such action subverted our own sovereignty and territorial integrity, the country being an independent state with a functioning and robust judicial and legal system.
It is unfortunate that that delay by the highest tribunal in the land to resolve the constitutional issues pending before it contributed immensely, though not intending it, to emboldening the president on his constitutional transgressions.
The forceful and irregular attempt by the NBI law at effecting the service of a questionable foreign-issued arrest warrant against Senator Bato and the unlawful arrest, detention and rendition of former president Duterte would have not come to pass without the imprimatur of the chief executive.
The chain of events leading to the Senate siege and the vexing circus chaotic status in it is rooted at the center of power. The legal and political imbroglio as well as the accountability for the continuing fiasco fall squarely with the president.
He cannot escape from the responsibility nor evade accountability.
Not even the president is above the law; neither are other current power holders.
They all serve at the pleasure of the Filipino people, who place them there — and can remove them when they so please.
