Bato slammed for snubbing Senate budget debates

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto criticized Sen. Ronald dela Rosa for missing out on budget deliberations in the plenary.

Dela Rosa has told the leadership that he would not be able to defend the proposed 2026 budgets of the Department of National Defense (DND), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Dangerous Drugs Board and other agencies under his chairmanship.

Dela Rosa is tasked to defend their budget as chair of the Senate committees on national defense and security, and of public order and dangerous drugs. The Senate has yet to tackle these agencies’ budget, although their marathon budget hearings are expected to run well into the night.

“He has not gotten in touch with me since the break,” Sotto said in an ambush interview before the start of plenary session.

“This is not OK. In the first place, he should not have accepted being chair of the committees if he could not fulfill his duties,” Sotto said.

His absence from the Senate started when Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla last Nov. 8 announced that an arrest warrant was already issued against the senator by the International Criminal Court for his drug war case of crimes against humanity with former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Named in the ICC documents for his role as former police chief in carrying out the brutal campaign that killed thousands of drug pushers and users, Dela Rosa has not been seen since. He has expressed interest in hiding from authorities in the face of “injustice.”

Sotto said he has yet to find out in the Senate rules if a senator can be sanctioned for long absences.

“I do not recall anything to that effect. But I will check. I will look at it. I may have missed something in the rules,” Sotto said.

Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian will defend the agencies’ budget instead. Gatchalian said Dela Rosa’s staff reached out to him requesting him to take over the budget sponsorship.

Gatchalian said the Senate will finish budget plenary debates on Thursday night, so that they can introduce amendments to the budget on Monday.

The Senate is on track to pass their version of the General Appropriations Bill on second and third reading before the bicameral conference committee in December.

Meanwhile, during the plenary debates on the Department of Transportation’s proposed 2026 budget, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta questioned the appointment to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) of Markus Lacanilao, a former special envoy on transnational crime whose role in the government’s turnover of Duterte to The Hague had long been criticized by Duterte allies.

Sen. JV Ejercito, as the agency’s budget sponsor, said he has to defer to President Marcos as the appointing authority behind Lacanilao’s new assignment as LTO chief.

But Marcoleta questioned Lacanilao’s credentials, saying that it seems it was a promotion and reward for helping in Duterte’s arrest and custody to the ICC.

“Is it because you sent President Duterte to The Hague, is this the payment? Is it a reward? We need to disabuse the doubts of our kababayans,” Marcoleta said.