MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday declined to answer if Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, could be detained or not in Camp Crame in Quezon City following his statement that he intends to seek PNP custody.
“For now, we have no comment on the matter mentioned,” PBGen Randulf T. Tuaño told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
Dela Rosa surfaced in the Senate on Monday (May 11) after six months of disappearance but his reemergence did not come without a scene when he outran operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who tried to arrest him in an attempt to effect an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant presented by critic former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
On Wednesday, gunshots rocked the Senate following an exchange of gunfires between the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms and the NBI. Shortly after the situation calmed, Dela Rosa left the Senate.
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca earlier disclosed that dela Rosa had allegedly asked PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. if he could stay in a room at the national police headquarters’ so-called “White House,” the official residence of the incumbent chief.
