MANILA, Philippines – Saying he wishes to put the matter to rest, Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto told the Senate plenary on Tuesday, May 12, that when the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) informed him about the warrant of arrest for Senator Bato dela Rosa the day before, he was not aware nor informed that Dela Rosa would be in the Senate that day. 

Sotto, who was still Senate president when an NBI representative talked to him on Monday, May 11, said that had he known that Dela Rosa was finally showing up after a monthslong absence, he would have “had a different perspective.”

“Little did I know that Senator Dela Rosa, after seven months of not being here, [would] suddenly come. Kaya ganoong kasimple lang ang sinabi ko, coordinate with the OSAA (That’s why I simply said, coordinate with the OSAA [Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms])…. They know the rules,” Sotto recalled telling the NBI representative.

He added that when the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) had subpoenaed Dela Rosa, the document was simply served to Dela Rosa’s office, indicating that he thought the same process would be observed, as he was not aware that Dela Rosa would be in the Senate on Monday.

The NBI attempted to serve an International Criminal Court warrant on Dela Rosa on Monday, the same day that Sotto was ousted and replaced by Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president.

Sotto also noted that when they were served warrants in the past, then-senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV surrendered to authorities who came to the Senate for them.

Sotto said he had to make the clarification as he’s being portrayed as someone who had “allowed” the NBI to barge into the Senate to carry out Dela Rosa’s arrest.

Cayetano had said that Dela Rosa is under the “protective custody” of the Senate.

– Rappler.com