MANILA, Philippines — National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag on Monday said the Senate released under his custody the nine NBI agents who were cited in contempt for attempting to arrest Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa without coordination with the chamber.
After over five months of absence, Dela Rosa surfaced at the Senate on the same day the minority bloc staged a coup and replaced Sen. Vicente Sotto III with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. Dela Rosa shunned the public and stopped going to the Senate in November 2025 after news came out that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for his arrest after the ICC identified him as a co-conspirator of former president Rodrigo Duterte in the crime against humanity filed against the latter. Pressed about the grounds for the warrant of arrest against Dela Rosa, Matibag said, "It's the same. His case with the ICC, the one with former president [Rodrigo] Duterte, about the EJK (extrajudicial killing [of drug suspects])." Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV accompanied the unidentified NBI agents in serving the ICC arrest warrant. But Dela Rosa's allies took protective custody of him. "There has been a commotion [in the attempt to serve the warrant] so some of our agents were put in contempt. But the Senate President (Cayetano) agreed that they will be under my custody," Matibag said. "I'm very thankful [for that arrangement]. So we can all go home [now]," Matibag said in a chance interview after his meeting with Cayetano. He rushed to the Senate after learning that the NBI agents were cited in contempt. Dela Rosa said the NBI team "harassed" him and prevented him from entering the Senate building. Asked about the serving of the ICC arrest order, Matibag said, "The ICC warrant...it's there already. And there was also a resolution, I understand, that the Senate mentioned that the Senator Bato [dela Rosa]will be under their custody." "So, insofar as we are concerned, on the executive side, we'll respect [the Senate as a] co-equal branch. We will hope that Senator Bato will be available to reply on any legal matters that would need his attention. So, [we hope that] the Senate will be ready to present Senator Bato [when that time comes]," he added. Asked if the NBI will no longer arrest Dela Rosa, Matibag said, "Well, they already put him in the custody of the Senate. So, we'll recognize that. We'll just hope that when it's needed, Senator Bato will be available also to answer [the allegation against him]." "We'll have communication with the DOJ (Department of Justice) and PCTC (Philippine Center on Transnational Crime) also. And of course the Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization). If there are any invitations or anything that will be communicated, probably we'll suggest that it should be channeled to the Senate president," he said.
