Padilla: Dela Rosa only hitched a ride, no idea where he was headed

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Robin Padilla on Friday admitted to letting Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa board his vehicle to leave the Senate but said he only dropped him off in Makati City and had no idea where he went afterward.

This came after Padilla refuted allegations that he helped his political ally “escape” the legislative chamber, noting that no arrest warrant had been issued for him at the time.

READ: Palace releases video of dela Rosa, Padilla leaving Senate premises

In an interview on Net25’s program “Sa Ganang Mamamayan,” Padilla said he informed dela Rosa that he needed to go home early the morning of May 14 because his wife was already looking for him, approximately six hours after the shooting incident at the Senate.

“Sen. Bato said, ‘I’ll just ride along.’ Of course I couldn’t refuse that, right? Sen. Bato didn’t have a vehicle because he was only dropped off at the Senate by a car of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano,” Padilla said, speaking Filipino.

He said dela Rosa got off in Makati City, where the latter’s own vehicle picked him up.

Padilla’s statement matches CCTV footage from the Senate showing the two senators leaving the premises at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday last week.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla also told Palace reporters on Wednesday that Padilla’s white Toyota Fortuner was seen heading toward Makati City.

Not a ‘fugitve’

Padilla further stressed that they did not “escape” the Senate premises, as nobody stopped them from leaving.

“How could we possibly escape? There were so many police inside and outside the Senate, and there were CCTV cameras too. No one even stopped us,” he said in Filipino.

READ: Palace on Bato Dela Rosa arrest warrant: Justice will be served

“For me, he is not a fugitive. I cannot accept that we would just call him that simply because a foreigner said so. We also need to respect our own processes as a country,” he also said in Filipino.

Further emphasizing that dela Rosa is not an escapee, Padilla said Remulla and Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Jose Melencio  Nartatez themselves told dela Rosa that they were not in the Senate on the night of the incident to arrest him, but only to secure the area.

“Secretary Jonvic said, ‘I’m not here to arrest you, my friend; I’m here to secure the area,'” he said mostly in Filipino.

On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against dela Rosa may now be enforced.

Malacañang, for its part, vowed that legal action in accordance with the law will be taken and that justice will be served. /jpv