MANILA, Philippines — Fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato" dela Rosa is now considered "armed and dangerous," with a P50M bounty for information leading to his arrest, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Friday.
“As of today, Senator Bato will be considered 'armed and dangerous.' We are placing a bounty of P50 million for his capture,” Remulla told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
The money, he said, would be sourced from the intelligence funds of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
A task force headed by Maj. Gen. Wilson Joseph Lopez, PNP Directorate for Intelligence chief, has the sole objective of “locating and arresting” the senator.
Remulla revealed that Dela Rosa was being coddled by a big, moneyed, armed group in Mindanao whom the government was negotiating with for the lawmaker’s surrender.
However the senator has remained in hiding even with the government’s consideration to arrest him peacefully.
“We have given him all the courtesy that could be afforded a senator of the Republic of the Philippines and he has shown nothing but cowardice by going into and remaining in hiding,” Remulla said.
Remulla added that Dela Rosa “mistook my gesture of negotiation as a sign of weakness.” He said gloves now have to come off and that it is time that he be brought to justice.
The P50 million bounty puts fugitive businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang second to Dela Rosa in the list of the Philippines top most wanted.
1 week ultimatum
PGen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., PNP chief, said they were giving Dela Rosa a week to surrender but with an ultimatum or not, police efforts to locate and arrest Dela Rosa continue.
He said the police were ready whether peacefully or through an armed confrontation.
Nartatez also maintained that those coddling and protecting Dela Rosa would have to face legal consequences.
Dela Rosa is the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for being an alleged indirect co-conspirator of former president Rodrigo Duterte in his bloody drug war.
Prior to becoming a senator, Dela Rosa was Duterte’s PNP chief from 2016 to 2018 making him the main architect of the former leader’s bloody drug war during his presidency and time as Davao City mayor.
The ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa will turn a year old by November. It can be recalled that it was also the time the senator disappeared from the Senate until his surprise presence last May to cast his vote in favor of the change in Senate leadership to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano from Sen. Tito Sotto.
His emergence was followed by the controversial Senate shooting, which Remulla said he regretted as it was his chance to arrest the senator but was forced to honor a “gentleman’s agreement” with Cayetano.
The shooting paved the way for Dela Rosa's escape from the Senate premises accompanied by his friend and ally, Sen. Robin Padilla.
