NBI tags Robin as person of interest in Bato ‘escape’

MANILA, Philippines — The chief of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has tagged Sen. Robin Padilla and Senate sergeant-at-arms Mao Aplasca as “persons of interest” in the disappearance of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

Melvin Matibag, NBI director, said Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano should also be made answerable on why Dela Rosa was able to slip out of the Senate early Thursday morning, just hours after gunshots rang out at the building that triggered chaos and panic in the chamber.

“Someone asked me how we would find Senator Bato, and I said the first person to be asked is Sen. Robin Padilla because he’s the last person who was with him,” Matibag told One PH’s “One Balita Pilipinas” yesterday. “There’s already closed-circuit television footage.”

“Also, the sergeant-at-arms, because he’s the one who knows the actions in the Senate. So, to a certain extent, they are persons of interest in the disappearance of Sen. Bato dela Rosa,” he added.

Cayetano should be part of the investigation, Matibag said, because he’s the one leading the Senate, and it was under his watch that Dela Rosa was granted “protective custody.”

“This means they commit to protect him. At the same time, if a competent authority will need the presence of Senator Bato, they should be the ones who’ll release him,” the NBI chief stressed.

Even though “protective custody” has no legal basis, Matibag said he struck a “gentleman’s agreement” with the Senate President last Monday when NBI agents attempted to arrest Dela Rosa by virtue of a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Such a “gentleman’s agreement,” he said, is also the reason why allegations that NBI tried capturing Dela Rosa again on Wednesday are false.

Matibag said that Dela Rosa’s movement is not restricted, as the Supreme Court still has to decide on the senator’s petition to invalidate the arrest warrant against him.

It’s not the NBI’s priority to locate the senator for now, Matibag said, “because what we are looking at is the case in the Supreme Court.”

Estrada’s remark

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada yesterday lamented the viral video of him saying the closed-circuit television video cameras should be stowed away in the aftermath of the May 13 Senate shootout.?Estrada was referring to a circulating video during the shootout, where he was heard telling the other senators in a meeting that the CCTV cameras should be “hidden.”

Estrada called reporters to deny speculations that he meant the evidence should be concealed.

“What I meant was ‘preserve’ the CCTV (footage) for future reference. Too much meaning was given to my words while I was doing my live feed,” Estrada said, adding that everyone, including himself, was panicking at the time the gunshots were heard.

Estrada said the “malicious” and false claims of CCTV footage being tampered with were being circulated by those saying the Senate shootout was staged.?

Obstruction

Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said Padilla can face charges of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting a fugitive for helping Dela Rosa flee from Senate custody.

“Obstruction of justice, harboring a criminal fugitive, aiding and abetting a criminal fugitive. That’s obstruction of justice, that’s very clear to me,” De Lima said.

She called for an independent investigation into the Senate’s handling of Dela Rosa, including his protective custody and later disappearance from the chamber and the events that triggered chaos. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Daphne Galvez, Janvic Mateo