Ces Drilon challenges Jimmy Bondoc on Bato’s fugitive status

Days after Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa went into hiding, questions about his whereabouts continue to pile up. Several allies of the Duterte camp, including Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Robin Padilla, have already been asked by the media, but so far, no clear answer has emerged.

On Monday’s The Big Story, anchor Ces Oreña-Drilon had musician turned lawyer Atty. Jimmy Bondoc, one of Dela Rosa’s lawyers and among the most vocal defenders of the Duterte faction.

Bondoc maintained that even their own legal team does not know where Dela Rosa is.

“We have repeatedly stated sincerely and earnestly, we do not know, and I think it’s intentional on the part of our client, siguro po to safeguard all of us and all of his loved ones,” he said.

Drilon pressed him on the consequences of his client’s decision, pointing out that it left his own lawyers exposed to public scrutiny.

“He put you in an awkward position where you were telling reporters you had just seen him and then he left. Don’t you question your client’s actions, to have put you on the spot?” Drilon asked.

Bondoc pushed back on the characterization.

“I think it’s just that I was not informed of his strategy, but it shows both of us, lawyers of Senator Bato, really were not into any conspiracy to take him out of the reach of his accusers,” he answered.

The discussion then shifted to whether Dela Rosa should be considered a fugitive, with Drilon citing the government’s position before the Supreme Court.

“Why isn’t he when it’s very clear in the manifestation of the Solicitor General to the Supreme Court that he is?” Drilon asked. “He is evading a legitimate warrant of arrest, which is lawful by virtue of RA 9851, which preceded our signing of the Rome Statute, even if we had withdrawn from the ICC.”

Bondoc argued that the Solicitor General’s filing was not a court ruling.

“Kasi po kapag tumatakbo po ang isang tao mula sa batas kailangan po malinaw kung ano po ba ‘yung batas na tinatakbuhan,” Bondoc said. “Kung ang tinatakbuhan po niya ay lokal na batas, ‘yun po, tama po, fugitive po siya. Pero pag ang tinatakbuhan niya po ay ‘yung International Criminal Court that we do not recognize, and lalo na po ‘yung arrest warrant, which was not properly processed na within all applicable laws, then he cannot be fugitive.”

Bondoc added that the legal issue, in their view, goes beyond simple definitions of flight and involves broader constitutional and jurisdictional questions.

Drilon challenged that framing and questioned why the issue was being treated as political when it involves crimes committed during the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war campaign.

“Why are you coloring this with politics when the case here involves the drug war victims during the time that he was PNP chief? There is a law, RA 9851, not just because the Solicitor General is saying that there is, but there is a law. I think the facts are being twisted here, and we’re being confused that this is just politics,” Drilon said.

She added: “It’s really a case that he’s answerable to that why the country had to seek the help of the ICC because wala pong recourse ang mga victims dito sa Pilipinas. But just the same, flight is guilt. Why does he leave the protective custody of the Senate, supposedly to go into hiding when he was given, to the discredit nga of some of his colleagues, his colleagues were criticized for granting that protection to him, and then he fled. How do you explain that?”

Bondoc responded by citing Senate deliberations and their interpretation of RA 9851, saying it is not a “surrogate arrest mechanism” for the ICC. He added that local courts remain functional, and that part of their petition includes seeking a TRO to stop the implementation of the ICC warrant.

“It was meant to criminalize those crimes here in the Philippines and to be tried here in the Philippines. Ma’am Ces, I beg you to read the Senate journals,” he said.

Drilon interjected, pointing out that there was no legal barrier stopping enforcement.

“Eh wala nga pong TRO, walang TRO,” she said. “The way is clear for him to be arrested. And if he, as a lawmaker, he should at least face the music and not go missing.”

Watch the video below: