Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa returned to the Senate on Monday, May 11, 2026 — about six months since he was last seen in public. Senate livestream/screengrab
MANILA — Changes of leadership at the Senate are big enough events, often wrapped in tension and drama, but the coup at the upper chamber last Monday was just a prelude to events that have led to investigations by multiple agencies and a pronouncement that a sitting senator risks arrest if he tries to leave the country.
BATO IS BACK
The first shock of the week was the return — like an ex-cop chief in the afternoon — of Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa.
He had been hiding since November on rumors the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for his arrest for his role in the Duterte administration's violent war on drugs.
He appeared at the session hall on Monday, full of defiance: “Nung ako’y absent, hinahanap ako ninyo, sumusuweldo. Hindi nagpapakita. Ngayon, papakita ako dito, hinarang ako ng mga [National Bureau of Investigation]."
(When I was absent, you were looking for me. When I come back, the NBI tried to keep me out!)
The NBI was at the Senate to coordinate implementation of an arrest order, according to a report by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Rene Samonte, who would be replaced a little later in the day.
Dela Rosa, it later emerged, hitched a ride with Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
He would also, incidentally, later provide a crucial vote that would see Cayetano elected Senate president.
COUP UNSEATS SOTTO
Amid the shock of dela Rosa's appearance on the floor, Sen. Joel Villanueva moved to declare all positions vacant, which was passed by a vote of 13 — the senators who would later form the Cayetano majority.
With the vacancies, Sen. Imee Marcos nominated Cayetano for Senate president, which he won by a vote of 13 to Sotto's nine.
Two senators, JV Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri abstained from the vote while Sens. Loren Legarda and Mark and Camille Villar jumped ship.
Legarda was later elected Senate president pro tempore.
In his speech as the new Senate president, Cayetano said the leadership change was not about Vice President Sara Duterte, whom the House of Representatives impeached later that day.
Cayetano is new Senate president, replacing Sotto
He said Duterte’s impeachment case will be “much more than dismissing a complaint because of political affiliation” and “much more than convicting someone without evidence.”
He said the Senate impeachment court, which will convene next Monday, will be "guided...by the truth, guided by evidence...but the process is as important as the result."
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano takes his oath as Senate president after 13 senators voted to elect a new leader, replacing Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday, May 11, 2026. Angie de Silva, ABS-CBN News
The change in leadership was also change in who would head the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
The Senate replaced Samonte with retired police general Mao Aplasca, Dela Rosa's Philippine Military Academy classmate and who would figure in controversy just a few days later.
The ICC, also on Monday, confirmed that a warrant had been issued for dela Rosa in November after its Pre-Trial Chamber I found "that there are reasonable grounds to believe Mr Dela Rosa has committed the crime against humanity of murder."
Dela Rosa had by then been granted protective custody by the Senate, where he would be staying indefinitely.
GUNFIRE AT THE SENATE
By Wednesday evening, the ICC had included dela Rosa on its list of wanted persons.
On its website, the court tags the senator as "at large" in the ICC list, which also includes former President Rodrigo Duterte (in ICC Custody) and Israel's President Benjamin Netanyahu (at large).
Dela Rosa had, in the meantime, appealed for support from fellow PMA alumni by singing the academy hymn on live TV and calling on his supporters to mass up at the Senate because NBI and police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group personnel were supposedly on the way to arrest him.
Bato's plea to PMA alumni 'won't affect' troops — Teodoro
He had also failed to secure an order from the Supreme Court to prevent implementation of the warrant. The court instead ordered the government to file its comment on dela Rosa's petition.
Amid all this, Senate security put the chamber on lockdown, telling media "someone" would be arrested.
Members of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Philippine Senate ask members of the press to leave the Senate hall after consecutive gunshots were heard on the evening of May 13, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
Senate security and armed Marines detailed to the upper house were seen in tactical gear on the second floor of the Senate, which had been ordered cleared.
Shots later rang out in the halls of the Senate, causing panic and anxiety among lawmakers, staff and media workers there.
Shots heard as Senate on lockdown for 'someone's' arrest
Cayetano and several senators of his majority bloc later went on Facebook Live to confirm that shots had been heard and that the Senate was under attack.
"Ano ba naman ito, talaga bang dadakipin na kaming lahat?" Sen. Marcos said on a live video.
(What is this? Are they really going to arrest us all?)
'WARNING SHOTS'
There were no arrests, as it turned out — except for an NBI volunteer driver who the agency said had been sent to retrieve an agent's bag — and Aplasca only exchanged "warning shots" with an NBI agent he claimed entered Senate premises.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Wednesday night assured senators that there were no attempts to arrest dela Rosa.
The NBI meanwhile said its people were there to secure the Government Service Insurance System side of the compound on the request of its president, Jose Arnulfo "Wick" Veloso.
Dela Rosa left the Senate with party-mate Sen. Robinhood Padilla before dawn on Thursday, with Aplasca saying his personnel could not keep the former cop chief from leaving "protective custody."
The Philippine National Police has been investigating the incident and has increased personnel deployment to the Senate to 1,400 from 400.
It has also said it is not discounting that the shooting may have been a diversion to help dela Rosa evade teams supposedly sent to arrest him.
Cayetano has meanwhile said he has agreed to a joint investigation that would involve the OSAA. He has also linked the incident to attempts to replace him as Senate president.
Cayetano says cancelled LEDAC meeting part of plot to unseat him
The Office of the Ombudsman has meanwhile placed Aplasca on preventive suspension as it also investigates the incident.
"'Yung papaputukan mo, law enforcement? Ano 'yun, mas mataas ba siya sa law enforcement?" Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla — the interior secretary's brother — said in a press conference on Friday.
(You fire your gun at law enforcement? Is he higher than law enforcement?)
He said his office will also talk to senators caught in the incident and those who may have had a hand in dela Rosa's departure from the Senate.
IMMIGRATION TOLD TO WATCH FOR BATO
The Department of Justice later Friday afternoon announced it was forming a panel to investigate the incident too.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida also announced that the ICC has issued a warrant that the government considers valid — the previous position was that the Philippines no longer recognizes the court — and that the ICC has reached out to the government about it.
"The DOJ will treat any attempt of Sen. Bato dela Rosa to leave the country as a mockery of justice," Vida said, adding an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order has been issued for the senator.
While ILBOs only direct immigration officers to note a subject's movements and subject them to secondary inspection if warranted, Vida said he has directed border enforcement "that if Sen. Bato dela Rosa would try to leave the country that the appropriate arrest should be made."
Amid questions on where dela Rosa may have gone to avoid potential arrest, there are no such questions about Mel Oragon, the NBI's volunteer driver — he was arrested and charged for being the alleged gunman in the incident.
As the Senate anticipates a potentially shaky week for its new leadership, little will have changed for its staff and for the media workers that cover it and who will have to try to resume business as usual.
— from reports by Marilyn Cahatol, Allison Co, RG Cruz, Rose Carmelle Lacuata, Jojo Pasion Malig and Kaxandra Salonga, ABS-CBN News