More Impeachment Circus Antics: Senator Bato Escapes!

Just when you think things couldn't get any crazier the universe goes and proves you wrong and delivers the most epic of soap operas. As documented previously, Senator Bato crawled out of his hidey hole to assist in the coup against Senate President Totto only to be greeted by his nemesis Trillanes with an arrest warrant from the ICC which led to him running from the NBI and seeking protection inside the Senate building. 

From his secure place in the Senate, Bato sought sympathy for his plight from his PMA class alumni by breaking into song.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2228447/this-troubled-pmaer-breaks-into-song-for-alumni-sympathy

A day after pleading with the commander in chief, the embattled ex-police general appealed for “peaceful support” also from the police and military—by breaking into song.

Make that his alma mater song from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa particularly called on his “mistah” or fellow PMA alumni to oppose government attempts to arrest him and fly him to the Netherlands to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

“My appeal to my comrades in the PMA: Remember our song—the PMA hymn,” he told reporters in a hallway interview on Wednesday, the third day of his stay at the Senate premises where he has sought refuge to avoid being served the ICC warrant.

He then started to sing the hymn “PMA, Oh Hail Thee”: “When bells for us are rung and our last taps is sung, let generations see our country free….”

After a few more lines, he explained: “I am appealing for a peaceful support so that our government would see that if they are not listening to my plea—that I am a Filipino asking for support from you, that you should not betray me to foreigners. That is my appeal to my comrades, soldiers, police officers who are placed in the same boat.”

“Show them our sentiment that they don’t want foreigners to interfere with us. We are Filipinos. If they want to hang me, they want me to be crucified, here in our Philippine courts, not in the hands of foreigners,” he added.

On Tuesday, Dela Rosa also made a direct appeal to President Marcos not to hand him over to the ICC, noting they had held no personal grudges toward each other despite being on opposing political sides.

A member of PMA Class of 1986, Dela Rosa served as chief of the Philippine National Police from in 2016-2018, becoming the top drug war enforcer of then President Rodrigo Duterte.

Dela Rosa was on his third day holed up at the Senate building after the chamber’s leadership stopped government agents from serving an ICC arrest warrant over his role in Duterte’s bloody drug war.

Outside the Senate on Wednesday, about 500 riot police faced off with some 250 protesters demanding the arrest and handover to the ICC of a person they described as the “architect” of Duterte’s drug war.

The crackdown left thousands dead, human rights monitors say, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics peddlers.

Duterte was arrested in March last year, flown to the Netherlands on the same day, and is detained in the Hague where he awaits trial.

The senator had not been seen publicly since November before emerging on Monday to take part in an unexpected vote that helped Duterte loyalists capture control of the Senate.

What kinfd of support was he expecting from his classmen? A military coup? The only way the ICC warrant would not be recognized is if the government collapsed completely. Is that really what he wanted? At the very least he did want a vigil outside the Senate building. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/727662/bato-dela-rosa-says-he-will-be-arrested-calls-for-vigil-outside-senate

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa claimed in a live video on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, that operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) were set to arrest him after the Senate session.

In the video, dela Rosa called on his supporters to go to the Senate and hold a vigil outside the building.

“Meron na pong mga operatiba ng NBI at ng CIDG na pupunta dito para ako’y arestuhin,” dela Rosa said.

(NBI and CIDG operatives are coming here to arrest me.)

Dela Rosa appealed for the public to help him, saying he did not want another Filipino to be brought to The Hague, following former president Rodrigo Duterte.

(Let us not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague, after President [Rodrigo] Duterte.)

Call for vigil

Dela Rosa urged supporters to gather in front of the Senate to stop what he described as a plan to arrest him and bring him to The Hague.

(I call on you: I hope you come here. Help us. Let us have a vigil in front of the Senate.)

(That is not acceptable for us Filipinos.)

The senator made the appeal after he was seen exiting the session hall when the plenary resumed on Wednesday, May 13.

He later boarded the elevator with his legal counsel and refused to take questions from the media.

Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief, has been linked to the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.

How would a vigil prevent Bato's arrest? 

Here's where the drama happens. Moments after Bato posted that video there was a shooting inside the Senate building. The details remain unclear but it seems armed men tried to enter the building and the Sergeant-At-Arms fired a warning shot. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/987557/men-entry-senate-shooting-dilg-chief/story/

Armed men allegedly tried to enter the Senate building through its second floor, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Wednesday after a two-hour tense situation at the upper chamber.

In an interview with reporters, Remulla said personnel from the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms (OSAA) fired a warning shot at the armed men.

“At approximately, 7:46 (p.m.), armed men tried to enter through the second floor but were stopped by the OSAA. They had firearms with them, but the OSAA fired a warning shot,” he said.

“They retreated at the back and then started firing indiscriminately into the air. Now, we do not have a definite count of how many people tried to enter the building,” Remulla added. 

The Interior Secretary said they are still investigating the identities of those who fired the shots.

“We still have to determine through CCTV footage kung ilan talaga sila (as to how many there really are),” he said.

Gunshots rang out at the Senate amid an ongoing lockdown at the upper chamber, where Dela Rosa is under protective custody.

The tension at the Senate developed after the Supreme Court (SC) did not issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by Dela Rosa, who is facing an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Remulla said they are still determining the persons behind the incident.

“We are in the process of determining who is behind this,” he said.

“We have instructed the GSIS, the Senate building, the Senate staff to secure all the CCTVs. Our mission here, the President sent me here, number one is to secure the senators. There’s no politics at this time,” Remulla added. 

The Philippine National Police (PNP) raised its status to full alert amid the tensions at the Senate premises on Wednesday evening.

On the other hand, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said military personnel seen inside the Senate building are Marine Security & Escort Group (MSEG) personnel.

Who were these armed men? Why were they trying to enter the building? The NBI has said there was no order to arrest Bato so they likely were not government officials. 

It was pure chaos at the Senate which provided the perfect cover for now wanted-for-crimes-against-humanity Senator Bato to crawl back into his hole. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2229192/at-large-again-bato-dela-rosa-sneaks-out-of-senate

Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa made a predawn escape on Thursday from the Senate, where he was given safe refuge after agents from the National Bureau of Investigation failed to arrest him earlier in the week on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

The senator slipped out around 2:30 a.m., hours after gunshots erupted inside the Senate building, throwing staff and journalists into panic as personnel from the chamber’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Osaa) exchanged fire with a group of unidentified armed men.

Dela Rosa left “together with” Sen. Robinhood Padilla, one of his staunchest allies, according to Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, quoting a report by Osaa. Cayetano said the report did not say whether the two senators rode in the same vehicle.

There were no gunshot injuries from the shooting that lasted around three minutes along a corridor on the second floor of the Senate building, Cayetano said, angrily denouncing the “attack against the Senate.”

Last Monday, senators decided to take Dela Rosa under their “protective custody” after he broke free from NBI agents trying to arrest him. He dashed several floors up the Senate building and into his office. Later at the Session Hall, he denounced the NBI action.

Cayetano said Dela Rosa was free to leave the Senate as there was no local case against him and no local court had issued an arrest warrant for him.

“In that sense, it’s like he left protective custody voluntarily,” the Senate leader said. Cayetano, a lawyer, added that in a “legal technical sense,” Dela Rosa did not escape.

He said that the senator’s wife, Nancy, sent him a long text message to explain that her husband left the Senate for its own safety and to spare it from his personal troubles.

“It is for this reason I am sure that Ronald decided to ‘escape,’” she said in a text message to Cayetano, which he read to reporters.

“He told me that the longer he stays inside the Senate, more people would be affected,” she said. “No matter how safe he must have felt inside the Senate, everyone’s safety was still more important to him.”

According to Nancy, when she left the Senate at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, her husband told her he would “stay put” there because it was safer for him.

Israelito Torreon, Dela Rosa’s legal counsel, met with reporters close to midnight after things had settled down and showed pictures of him with the senator, which he said were taken before speaking with them.

Torreon posted another picture of himself and the senator on his social media account at 1:11 a.m. on Thursday, dismissing rumors of Dela Rosa’s escape.

By Thursday morning, various sources, including one senator, cited a Senate secretariat report that said Dela Rosa left the premises around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Cayetano, who said he left the Senate before midnight on Wednesday, told reporters that he learned that Dela Rosa had slipped out around noon on Thursday.

That's right. Bato escaped! Apparently he and Senator Robin Padilla ran off together. And maybe that was the point of all the chaos. Maybe it was all staged. 

https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/14/senate-chaos-staged-that-s-the-sentiment-of-our-nbi-agents-matibag-says-1447

Following chaos due to gunfire inside the Senate on Wednesday night, the internet is rife with speculations that the disturbance was orchestrated to let International Criminal Court suspect Sen. Ronald dela Rosa leave the chamber's premises. 

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro brought this up at a news conference in Malacañang on Thursday with top law enforcement officials, who sought to clarify details of the shocking scenes in the chamber where gunshots had been heard on live television.

Castro asked Melvin Matibag, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, if there were views that the commotion may have been "staged" to let Dela Rosa slip out of the Senate.

"I'll be very honest, that's the sentiment of our NBI agents," replied Matibag, who stressed that an investigation is still underway to determine the truth behind the mayhem.

Agents of the NBI arrived Wednesday at the Government Service Insurance System building in Pasay City — the Senate leases part of the compound — after GSIS president Wick Veloso asked the investigating agency to secure their premises, said Matibag.

He stressed that the NBI was not inside the Senate when the chaos erupted.

Castro claimed that Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca, a former police general, was the first to fire a warning shot when an NBI agent confirmed their presence in the GSIS wing.

She also stressed that there was "no assault" on the Senate by NBI agents and that there was no operation to arrest Dela Rosa, whose legal team did not secure an immediate restraining order from the Supreme Court to prevent his arrest.

"Ang bagong Pilipino ay para sa katotohanan at hindi para sa pagko-cover up," Castro said as the press conference concluded.

(A renewed Filipino is for the truth and not for creating a coverup.)

No one was injured in the five-hour incident that catapulted the Philippines into the international spotlight.

The NBI personnel were not only securing the GSIS building amid the tension but were also determining the location of Dela Rosa, who had not been seen in public for six months, Matibag noted.

He added that the alleged gunman arrested following the incident was not their personnel but rather a "volunteer."

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has denied that the government had a hand in the chaos that gripped the Senate on Wednesday night, when Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano also claimed that the institution was "under attack."

Cayetano on Thursday denied talk that only Senate security opened fire on Wednesday night, calling it "fake news."

He stressed that shots came from both sides. 

"I mean, you have the videos, guys."

He said there have been "conspiracy theories from both sides" since Wednesday night.

He added he has talked to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and "informed him of the inconsistencies" in the NBI's statements.

He said he agrees with Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla's suggestion for an independent joint investigation into the incident.

"Bakit joint? Kasi jurisdiction 'to ng [Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms] at ng Senate," Cayetano, who is in his first week as Senate president, said.

(Why a joint investigation? Because this is the jurisdiction of OSAA and the Senate)

He added that he knew as early as last night of talk that the incident was staged, adding "the accusations are all over."

An unnamed senator earlier in the day told the media that Dela Rosa had already left the Senate premises before dawn on Thursday, and Matibag and Philippine National Police chief Jose Nartatez Jr. could not immediately confirm the development in the briefing.

But Matibag, also a lawyer, pointed out that since Dela Rosa has been in the protective custody of the Senate, the chamber has the "responsibility" to surrender the senator when his presence is requested.

The NBI suspended operations to arrest Dela Rosa after the Senate placed him in protective custody and out of respect for the senator's petition before the Supreme Court, he said.

Dela Rosa disappeared last November following reports of an ICC warrant against him.

He emerged at the Senate on Monday shortly before his allies installed Cayetano as the new Senate leader and ahead of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment by the House.

NBI officials had tried to arrest Dela Rosa as soon as he arrived in the Senate's parking area Monday, but the former police chief outran the agents and sought refuge in the plenary hall, where his allies pushed to keep him under the Senate's protection.

On Wednesday, chaos ensued inside the Senate building in Pasay City as gunshots were fired after Dela Rosa announced on social media that he would soon be arrested.

Dela Rosa is among the named co-perpetrators in former President Rodrigo Duterte's crimes against humanity case before the ICC.

Dela Rosa served as the chief implementor of the former administration's bloody anti-drug campaign that saw thousands of suspected drug users and dealers killed in police operations. 

Of course, maybe it wasn't staged. Many questions remain as to what exactly happened and why it happened. There will be an investigation and hopefully it will uncover the truth. As of now the impeachment court is scheduled to convene on May 18th. What happens between then and now and during the trial remains to be seen but we can certainly expect more circus antics. 

The Impeachment Circus Begins

On may 11th, 2026 the House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice President Sara Dutere for the second time. The vote was expected and during the previous days Senate President Toto said he would immediately convene the impeachment court upon acceptance of the articles of impeachment. However, that has now all changed as there was a coup and now Alan Cayetano is Senate President. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2226585/alan-cayetano-is-now-senate-president

After several reported attempts, the ouster move against Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III finally succeeded on Monday as Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano was installed to replace him.

Thirteen senators voted to elect Cayetano, nine voted for Sotto, while two abstained from voting.

Of the 13, eight were from Cayetano’s former group in the minority—Sens. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who attended the session after being absent since November; Francis “Chiz” Escudero; Joel Villanueva; Imee Marcos; Rodante Marcoleta; Robin Padilla; Christopher “Bong” Go; and Jinggoy Estrada. The five others were Sotto himself and his former allies—Cayetano’s sister, Pia; Sens. Loren Legarda; and siblings Sens. Mark and Camille Villar.

Alan Cayetano was among the nine senators who voted for Sotto, along with Sens. Panfilo Lacson, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, and siblings Raffy and Erwin Tulfo, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Lito Lapid.

Sens. Juan Miguel Zubiri and JV Ejercito abstained from voting.

The surprise move occurred shortly after the session opened, when Cayetano stood on the Senate floor and informed his colleagues that they had the numbers to change the Senate leadership.

“May I manifest that there are now at least 13 members of the Senate who wish to have a leadership change, and that Sen. Bato dela Rosa is in the building and will be here in a minute,” Cayetano said.

“May I kindly inform and apologize to the Senate President that, for security reasons, I could not go up to you earlier to ask you and tell you this and had to inform you this way, but I give you all my respect and ask for an orderly transition in accordance with our rules, Mr. President,” he added.

Immediately after, the session was suspended, and when it resumed, Villanueva moved to declare all seats vacant. Voting 13-10-1, the Senate approved the motion.

This was quickly followed by a motion from Marcos, who nominated Cayetano to be the new Senate president.

When Villanueva, who was designated as acting Majority Leader, moved to close the nomination, Pangilinan manifested their “serious reservations.”

“We do not object because we do not have the numbers, but we would like to manifest our serious reservations, Mr. President, for the record,” Pangilinan said.

Sotto’s supporters did not give up without a fight.

Pending Villanueva’s motion to close the nomination for Senate president,  Lacson also stood up on the floor and moved to nominate  Sotto as Senate president.

This prompted the Senate to vote on the two nominees. 

Since taking the Senate presidency from Escudero in September, Sotto’s leadership was hounded by coup rumors following an investigation by the blue ribbon committee into alleged corruption linked to the government’s flood control projects.

A draft partial report of the committee has recommended a preliminary investigation into the alleged involvement of several individuals, including incumbent and former senators, but until now, the panel has yet to secure the required signatures to report it out to the plenary. 

This did not prevent Lacson,  the panel head, from bringing the issue before the Senate floor through what he called the Chairman’s Progress Report.

Lacson had earlier warned that his continued investigation into the scandal could cost Sotto’s leadership.

Sotto has repeatedly said that he was only serving at the pleasure of his colleagues.

“I uphold and follow the Constitution! I leave everything to God’s plan. I trust HIS Heart!” he was quoted as saying on Sunday.

It's not so simple as a power grabbing coup. The Senators who enacted the coup are all staunch Duterte allies. Especially Bato who showed up just for the occasion to cast a vote for Cayetano. Bato had been in hiding since November 11th but somehow the NBI knew he would be arriving and ended up chasing him around the Senate building while attempting to enforce a warrant from the ICC.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2226771/cctv-footage-shows-dela-rosa-being-chased-by-nbi-agents-at-senate

A closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the Senate showed Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa running from National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)  operatives when he entered the Senate building in Pasay City  on Monday.

The CCTV footage was played at the session hall after dela Rosa and some of his allied senators cried foul over the NBI agents alleged harassment while trying to enforce the alleged warrant of arrest issued by the Internal Criminal  Court’s (ICC) in connection with his role in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

As seen on the footage, dela Rosa arrived in the Senate at 3:10 p.m.

Upon entering the Senate building, the senator could be seen running with other people while being chased by  the NBI agents dressed in black.

At one  point  during the chase,  dela Rosa slipped but he got up quickly and continued running towards the session hall located on the second floor.

At the session hall, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said  he was concerned and disturbed by what happened to Dela Rosa, noting  the latter’s claim that he was “wrestled” by some NBI agents.

Dela Rosa asked the Senate to “remove” the NBI agents from the Senate, including former Sen. Antonio Trillanes III, who he said was at the chamber’s library at that time. 

“As of now Antonio Trillanes and some NBI operatives are still  at the library,” he said.

“May I move that the  Sergeant-at-Arms   remove these people from the vicinity of the Senate.”

But newly-installed Senate President Alan  Cayetano said that as former member of the  chamber,  Trillanes is welcome in the Senate and would be given due courtesy unless he was involved in the harassment.

“He’s part of the harassment,” Dela Rosa stressed, noting that Trillanes was with the NBI operatives who tried to stop him.

Citing an initial report from the Senate’s Sergeant at Arms,  Cayetano said the NBI was indeed in the Senate to arrest Dela Rosa.

But according to the new Senate chief, the chamber had no prior knowledge of the plan to arrest  Dela Rosa. 

By tradition, he said,  “no law  enforcement agency has ever come to the Senate in secret to effect an arrest.” 

Adding further to the circus was the appearance of former Senator Trillanes, nemesis to Bato and Duterte, with the ICC warrant. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2226648/trillanes-brings-icc-warrant-vs-dela-rosa

Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV brought to the Senate the International Criminal Court’s  (ICC) arrest warrant issued to Sen. Bato dela Rosa. 

Trillanes came to the Senate on Monday along with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to make the arrest, but Dela Rosa claimed he “wrestled” with them to be set free.

Dela Rosa arrived at the Senate session hall with injuries on his finger after the supposed altercation.

How did he get that warrant? Why was he the one serving it and not the NBI or the PNP or some other authority? How did he know Bato would be at the Senate? Those are still unanswered questions but it turns out the warrant is genuine.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/322663/icc-confirms-arrest-warrant-vs-bato-dela-rosa

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday confirmed the authenticity of the warrant of arrest against Senator Bato dela Rosa in connection with his role in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

“The International Criminal Court confirms that the document published by national authorities of the Republic of the Philippines and circulated in [the] media is indeed a formal ICC document,” the ICC said in a message to reporters.

According to the ICC, the warrant was issued confidentially and under seal by Pre-Trial Chamber I on November 6, 2025.

It also said that it is currently in the process of unsealing the warrant of arrest to officially circulate the copy of the warrant to the public. 

As of writing, Dela Rosa is still within the premises of the Senate after attending the plenary session on Monday—the first time since he went into hiding on Nov. 11.

The senator was placed under Senate protective custody due to the arrest warrant from the ICC and after a supposed scuffle with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which allegedly blocked him from entering the session hall and attempted to serve him the warrant.

On the other hand, it was former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV who personally brought a copy of the ICC’s arrest warrant against Dela Rosa to the Senate together with NBI personnel.

Meanwhile, newly seated Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano condemned the development, stating that only arrest warrants issued by Philippine courts will be entertained under his leadership.

Dela Rosa is among those tagged as co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity case lodged against former President Rodrigo Duterte before the ICC, as he served as his national police chief from 2016 to 2018 and led the bloody anti-drug campaign that left thousands of drug suspects dead. 

It turns out the arrest warrant is not only real but was issued confidentially and sealed on November 6th, 2025 just five days before Bato went into hiding over rumors there was a warrant. Being sealed it's no wonder the government kept denying any knowledge of its existence. The question remains, how did Trillanes get that information and obtain the actual warrant? Perhaps, with the warrant being sealed, the idea was to draw out Bato. That he would go into hiding at the slightest whiff of being arrested was known. In order to draw him out the warrant would need to remain secret even from the Philippine government until the very last minute at the most opportune time. That time arrived on May 11th as Bato crawled out of his hole to save his friend Sara Duterte. 

To recap: On May 11th just before Sara Duterte was impeached the Senate changed leadership to pro-Duterte Cayetano backed by pro-Duterte Senators which casts doubt over any impeachment trial, Senator Bato showed up only to be chased by the NBI like they were keystone cops or an episode of Benny Hill, former Senator Trillanes showed up with the actual warrant from the ICC, and now Bato is holed up in the Senate to prevent his lawful arrest and extradition to The Hague.

What a circus! What a carnival! How can anyone take Philippine politics seriously? It remains to be seen just how all of this will affect Sara Duterte's impeachment trial.

But there is one more thing. Bato has been missing for six months and has still been drawing a salary. Thankfully the conscientious Senator addressed this issue. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2227110/dela-rosa-says-he-didnt-take-pay-during-his-absence-i-have-conscience

Saying that he has a conscience and a sense of shame, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said there was no need to prod him not to take his salaries during his absence from the Senate as he did not get them anyway.

This was one of the reasons why, he said, he decided to resurface in the Senate on Monday amid threats of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

And, of course, he admitted that his physical presence was needed to unseat then Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and replace him with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

“All of that that what you want to see, as far as I’m concerned — that’s it,” dela Rosa told reporters on Tuesday when asked if the leadership vote and his intention to seek sanctuary in the chamber were the reasons why he risked going to the Senate.  

“And I’m already ashamed to the public, who keep looking for me and saying I’m receiving a salary even though I don’t claim it. My salary down there, I don’t claim it,” he said. 

“I have to show up, especially during these crucial moments,” he explained. 

He was one of the 13 senators who installed new Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, replacing Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

According to dela Rosa, it was his staff who received his salaries during the first months that he was  absent from the Senate, but said he did not take them.

He added that he no longer claimed the rest of his salaries and, instead, instructed his staff to use it for  relief efforts so the money will go to the people.

When asked about his colleagues, who have been egging him not to take his salaries, dela Rosa said: “Even without encouragement, I also have a conscience. I would be ashamed to the public…” 

For six months since November, dela Rosa stopped showing up in the Senate after the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC was first disclosed by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla. 

The senator refused to say where he hid during that time.

“Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I did not leave Philippine jurisdiction. I love the Philippines. I will live and die in this country,” dela Rosa said.

Bato says he didn't take his salary but "instructed his staff to use it for relief efforts so the money will go to the people." That means he still took the money! He didn't return it to the treasury. That taxpayer money is gone to who-knows-where!

Take note that Bato said, “I have to show up, especially during these crucial moments." And what crucial moment is that but to change Senate leadership just before Sara's impeachment thereby throwing her trial into doubt and confusion. How noble of him. 

Tobacco Hypocrisy

The government of the Philippines has a hypocritical attitude towards tobacco usage and farming. On the one hand the Department of Health urges everyone to either quit or never begin smoking in the name of living a healthy lifestyle. 

http://tribune.net.ph/2025/04/05/doh-sounds-alarm-on-rising-tobacco-use

The Department of Health (DoH) has expressed alarm over the rising prevalence of tobacco use by Filipinos.

In a statement on Friday, the DoH reminded the public that nicotine addiction from tobacco products remained a critical public health concern in the Philippines.

Citing the 2023 National Nutrition Survey, tobacco prevalence went up from 19 percent in 2021 to 24.4 percent among adults aged 20 to 59.

With this, the DoH stressed that tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates over eight million annual deaths attributable to tobacco.

In the Philippines, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority for 2023 and 2024 indicate that the top three causes of death — heart attacks, cancer and strokes — are all linked to tobacco use.

“Beyond its association with the top three causes of death, cigarette smoking is also linked to a range of other serious health conditions. These include lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and harmful reproductive health effects,” the DoH noted.

Additionally, smoking contributes to other diseases, including certain eye disorders and immune system problems like rheumatoid arthritis, the Health department noted.

The agency also emphasized the dangers of exposure to second-hand smoke, which is known to cause coronary heart disease, strokes and lung cancer in adults, and increases the risk of respiratory and ear infections, asthma attacks and sudden infant death syndrome in children.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa recently came under fire for posing for pictures with executives of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. at a Malacañang event.

Health reform advocates slammed Herbosa for “promoting tobacco products,” citing Joint Memorandum Circular 2010-001 of the Civil Service Commission and the DoH which explicitly mandates that government officials should avoid unnecessary interactions with and not accept donations from the tobacco industry.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro, however, said there was no evidence Herbosa accepted donations from tobacco companies.

“If the DoH didn’t receive any donation from the tobacco company, we don’t see anything wrong with that,” she added.

Yet, if people stop smoking excise taxes will stop being paid and Universal Healthcare will lose funding. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/933863/p27b-reduction-in-uhc-funding-seen-with-sin-tax-moratorium-on-tobacco-party-list/story/

The proposed moratorium on the implementation of the Sin Tax law on tobacco products will result in P27 billion worth of lost funding for the Universal Health Care Law, the Anakalusugan party-list said Thursday.

Anakalusugan party-list Representative Ray Reyes is referring to House Bill 11279 which seeks to postpone the existing 4% increase in tobacco products taxes for 2026 to make way for a 6% increase in tobacco products in 2027 and every two years thereafter.

The same proposed moratorium also provides that on years without a scheduled increase in the rate of tax except for 2026, the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Finance, may increase the tax rate by up to 5% in case the actual national government deficit of the previous year exceeds the programmed deficit by an equivalent of the 2% of the gross domestic product of the previous year.

"The ‘Health Sabotage Bill’ threatens over P27 billion worth of government revenues over the next five years- funds essential for Universal Health Care, building health facilities, hiring medical staff, and other critical health services. Anakalusugan party-list strongly opposes the proposed moratorium on sin taxes, also known as the ‘Health Sabotage Bill.’ Its approval would drastically harm public health, burden the economy, and undermine our progress toward a healthier, more resilient nation,” Anakalusugan said.

The group urged the public to oppose the moratorium on sin taxes, saying the "financial loss would seriously cripple programs aimed at improving public health and welfare.”

Anakalusugan party-list said that projected health costs are set to increase by 18% by 2025, making the proposed moratorium “untenable.”

“Removing or freezing sin taxes will cause a rise in smokers across all demographics. Data from the Department of Health reveals that despite the current tax rates, the number of smokers has increased. Halting tax hikes means lost revenue for the government and rising healthcare costs,” it said.

The party-list also cited studies that claim sin taxes deter smoking and the use of harmful products like traditional tobacco, vape, and heated tobacco, while the proposed moratorium opens the door for 400,000 more smokers by 2030.

“The broader economic toll is alarming. Smoking results in P414 billion in lost productivity and disease treatment annually. This represents the untapped potential of our workforce, which is crucial for the Philippines' global competitiveness,” the group said.

“Failure to address these avoidable losses jeopardizes the nation's health, economy, and resilience. Public health is non-negotiable,” Anakalusugan added.

They say removing taxes will mean lost revenue for the Department of Health and a rise in smokers. Why the worry about new smokers when current smokers are a major source of income for Universal Healthcare? Sounds like the DOH needs smokers to pay those sin taxes. 

Perhaps more perplexingly is how a local government in Ilocos Norte is treating tobacco farmers. They want to give financial rewards. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1254408

This municipality, considered as the rice granary of Ilocos Norte, is shifting its sight to expand its tobacco industry this planting season to generate more revenues for local farmers.

According to Mayor Joemelle Saguid Go-Sy, a series of meetings with farmers groups are ongoing to encourage more farmers to plant tobacco and help the local government unit (LGU) achieve its expansion target of 200 hectares from the current 123-hectare tobacco plantation.

In return, Go-Sy vowed to reward farmers who can help the municipality get its share of tobacco excise tax.

"For every 200 kilos of tobacco harvest delivered, a farmer will be given a cow, 100 kilos for goat, or an egg-laying chicken to boost their livelihood," Go-Sy told the Philippine News Agency in a recent interview.

The mayor noted that the terms are flexible depending on the needs of farmers.

Rice is the major agricultural product of Dingras, followed by tobacco, corn, garlic and lowland vegetables.

Planting tobacco also has added benefits to farmers because of the tobacco excise tax under Republic Act 7171, which grants benefits to farmers in towns and provinces that produce Virginia tobacco.

Under the law, local governments units that produce Virginia tobacco are entitled to a 15-percent share of national tax collections.

Farmers here earn an average of PHP50,000 to PPH70,000 per hectare from raising tobacco, which has a sure market from established buyers like the Universal Leaf Philippines Inc., the country’s biggest tobacco growing and processing company.

A cow, a chicken, and a goat for growing tobacco? But what about the DOH wanting to reduce tobacco dependence? Rewarding tobacco farmers would seem to not be in line with DOH goals. It is in line with retaining and reaping new smokers who will pay those excise taxes to fund Universal Health Care though. And isn't Universal Health Care a goal of the DOH? Shouldn't the DOH encourage people to smoke so UHC is funded?

A Probe Into Jeffery Epstein's Philippine Connections Sought By The House

Jeffery Epsteins has ties to the Philippines. That is a fact revealed by the release of the Epstein files. Not only did he employ Filipinos as house help but a firm owned by his best friend's brother-in-law used Filipino hackers to whitewash his name on the internet. Now the Progressive Makabayan bloc has filed a resolution to probe these connections.  Let's take a look.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/976174/house-probe-into-jeffrey-epstein-operations-connections-in-ph-sought/story/

A proposed resolution seeking an investigation into the alleged Philippine-based operations and connection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been filed at the House of Representatives.

Progressive Makabayan bloc filed proposed House Resolution No.762, directing the House committees on public information and women and gender equality to hold a legislative inquiry on reports that Epstein hired a Philippine-based team to wipe out alleged criminal activity from the web.

"There is a need to investigate this to determine the extent of Epstein’s network within the Philippines, to identify any local individuals or entities that may have aided or benefited from his operations, and to assess vulnerabilities that allowed the Philippines to be used as an operational hub for the clean-up of the name of an international sex offender," the resolution read.

"The possible intersection between a known international sexual exploitation offender and Philippine-based firm, regardless of whether such services were directly involved in abuse, necessitates careful legislative and policy scrutiny by the House of Representatives to ensure that no regulatory or enforcement gaps expose Filipino women and children to exploitation, grooming, coercion, or trafficking," it added.

Under the resolution, Gabriela Rep. Sarah Jane Elago, Kabataan Rep. Renee Louise Co, and ACT Teachers Rep Antonio Tinio wanted to uncover the full nature, scope, and duration of Epstein’s activities and networks within the Philippines.

They also wanted to identify Filipino agencies or service providers employed or engaged by Epstein or his associates.

They said the House panels should also investigate allegations of media manipulation and reputation management conducted from the Philippines aimed at shielding Epstein from accountability; and recommend legislative measures to tighten regulations, enhance oversight, and impose stricter penalties to prevent the Philippines from being used as a base for international crimes of sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and financial crimes.

Based on the documents from the US Department of Justice, Al Seckel allegedly helped Epstein outsource a firm in the Philippines to conceal the disgraced financier's alleged crimes on the internet by covering up negative links and promoting positive ones. 

Al Seckel, who is married to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister. Maxwell is Epstein’s girlfriend and procurer.

“Google suggests has gotten rid of two negatives … jeffry epstein jail and one jeffrey epstein pedophile … another thing I’ve had the Philippine work on since day one,” Seckel told Epstein in an email dated December 7, 2010.

“Our group in the Philippines is building links and links to our sites, pseudo sites, and the other Jeffrey Epsteins of the world," Seckel’s email in October 2010 stated.

The cover-up was done by creating many links to the websites and pages they created about Epstein, emphasizing his supposed involvement in areas like science and sports.

“Wikipedia was an important victory, as it will always be at the top of the search engine results. Now the head lines do not mention convicted sex offender or pedophile. Instead, Philanthrophic work, Epstein Foundation, Promotion of Scientists,” Seckel said in an email dated December 16, 2010.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 for trafficking and abusing underage girls in the US and abroad. He died in jail later that year while waiting for trial.

This is very interesting but it should be noted a resolution filed means nothing unless it is acted upon. This could very well be performative. Let's not forget NO ONE in the House or Senate, except Trillanes,  insisted the Marawi siege be investigated despite all the evidence that not only was it botched but the government had prior knowledge that it would occur. And he filed that resolution just before his term ended. It was never acted upon. 

How exactly will this inquiry proceed? Al Seckel is dead. Are his firms still around? Where are the people who hacked Wikipedia at his behest?

But more than that....go beyond Epstein!! Who else is using Filipino hackers to manipulate the internet and the public's perception?? Many Filipino politicians, of course. 

It would also do well to ask what DIRECT ties Epstein had to the Philippines. The firm who cleaned up his internet ranking was an INDIRECT tie. Which Filipino politicians or personalities ever visited Little St. James Island or had dealings with Epstein? It cannot be forgotten that the Philippines is deeply involved in global politics even sending a delegation to Davos. Which of the global elites who were friends with Epstein were friends with Philippine personalities?  Did Epstein have businesses in the Philippines? Did he ever visit the Philippines? 

Certainly guilt by association is a fallacy which proves nothing but still these connections should be probed. The reach of Epstein was global and he was not a lone actor. He had financiers. He had backers. How do those people play into Philippine politics? 

Let's not forget the Philippines is the number one hub for child exploitation and Epstein was very much into that. How does that factor in? Did any Filipino infants, children, or young people end up in his orbit or on his island?

These are questions which will likely never find conclusive answers but they must be asked all the same. 

Filipinos Shilled Online For Jeffery Epstein

The revelations from the Epstein files continue to pile up. In a previous article it was noted that Epstein employed Filipino helpers and servants who could be material witnesses to the crimes of the elite. Now we learn that a team of Filipinos in the Philippines, employed by Ghislaine Maxwell's sisters husband, was manipulating Google to cover-up for Epstein. 

 https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/02/09/2506707/how-philippines-based-ops-tried-bury-jeffrey-epsteins-bad-press

Long before his 2019 arrest, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was already working to erase his criminal past from the internet.

By 2010, Jeffrey Epstein was already a convicted sex offender and on probation after a year in jail. Still very wealthy and socially connected, he was desperate to have his public reputation swept clean.

Unfortunately for him, Google was beginning to show results while users typed on its search box. Auto-suggestions would yield "jail" and "pedophile" tied to the American financier's name. References to his crimes, guilty plea and jailtime dominated search results.

Among the 20,000 pages of "Epstein Files" recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice were email exchanges that follow how Epstein turned to Al Seckel, the husband of hte sister of his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, to lead the damage-control campaign.

Seckel, a self-styled "optical illusions" collector, proposed a blunt strategy: overwhelm negative search results with a flood of positive—and in some cases misleading—content until critical links slid out of view.

"I wish I could use all my creativity and powers to make it all go away instantaneously, but I can't," Seckel wrote in an email to Epstein in October 2010. "However, it is not a hopeless case, based on our analysis of it."

The approach relied on a simple premise of what is now considered old-school search engine optimization, or SEO: bury the bad links and boost the good.

"The greater the number of links, then the higher the ranking," Seckel explained.

He then appealed to Epstein's background as a math teacher in the 1970s, long before he was a multimilionaire. "Jeffrey, it's all mathematics, that's all it is, and all it ever will be." 

The emails indicated that Seckel hired a team based in the Philippines to fashion a moat of links around websites and pages they created on Epstein and others who share his name. His supposed involvement in sports, science and philanthropy would be a highlight on these new sites.

"Our group in the Philippines is building links and links to our sites, pseudo sites, and the other Jeffrey Epsteins of the world," Seckel wrote. 

He argued that once automated web crawlers revisited search results, Epstein’s critics would instead see favorable or unrelated content created by his team.

"Then the old sites will just get moved out of the way. Poof. We just need more links than [sic] them," Seckel said.

The operation was not a one-off magic trick of the "illusions" enthusiast. It followed a playbook common to PR firms at the time, offering "reputation management" services designed to game search algorithms. A 2012 Wall Street Journal report detailed how such firms buried negative coverage for companies and individuals while amplifying positive narratives.

While it sounded simple enough, Seckel kept fixing for Epstein what proved to be a neverending campaign. 

"We are quite exhausted because this job is so incredibly massive and intensive, and we are under a lot of pressure to give you the results you would want," he wrote in another October 2010 email to Epstein.

A key focus of the effort was Wikipedia. Seckel forwarded an email from a "team leader" describing how extensive the efforts are for Epstein in the country.

"Philippines are [sic] continuing to do a lot of backend work, with additional work as soon as they receive the articles and photos from Jeff," they wrote. 

Repeated attempts to remove or soften referencs to Epstein's criminal records were reversed by other users monitoring the page.

"He has over twenty people with google alerts on him, who go and undo our edits every time we remove material," the team leader wrote, adding that "more extreme measures" might be needed.

The team also Seckel for more funding for the job.

"Once additional money comes in I can continue to start pimping the 'other' Jeffrey Epsteins that already exist on the web, trying to jump them up in rankings," they said. "You've already seen the kind of work effort I will bring to this project, so I'm counting on you to make this happen and provide me the material and funding that I need."

It took Seckel and the team two months to scrub Wikipedia and search results of what they called "toxic" terms.

"We have stopped the hacking on your wiki site, and that was a major effort. Your wiki entry now is pretty tame, and bad stuff has been muted, bowlerized, and pused to the bottom," Seckel wrote. "This was a big success."

The service commanded a retainer of $10,000 to $20,000 a month, or roughly P450,000 to P900,000. Epstein objected to the escalating costs.

"I was never told... that there was a 10k fee per month„ you inittaly [sic] said the project would take 20.. then another 10. then another 10," Epstein wrote in one exchange, complaining about the incremental charges.

To this, Seckel shot a sharp response.

"We were trying to fix up your mess. I didn't create it. Just thought it would be something to help. This was NEVER about trying to pull money out of you, and fact, we have don't everything possible to keep the costs down considerably," he wrote on Dec. 16, 2010.

While his reputation still suffered in public, Epstein was not exiled from his private, elite networks. The cleaned up search results, at least for a time, kept invitations coming.

Documents showed the convicted sex offender still had a full social calendar in the years after 2010, speaking and meeting with director Woody Allen, famed professor Noam Chomsky, and British billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates, among others.

He went on to acquire a second private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2018 and entertained charity calls, including a fundraiser for typhoon-hit Tacloban in 2014.

Explosive accusations by former victim Virginia Giuffre surfaced in 2015, helping Epstein's cases return to the spotlight.

It was also the year Seckel reportedly died, with accounts saying his body was found at the "bottom of a cliff" near his home in France.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of trafficking and abusing underage girls, some as young as 14, across multiple locations in the United States and abroad.

He died in custody in August 2019 while awaiting trial.

The name and location of this operation has not been revealed. Is it still active today working on other outsourced internet shenanigans? 

What's more important about this article than Epstein's Philippines connection is what this means for local elections. There has been plenty written about bots manipulating both the 2016 and 2022 elections. Troll farms abound in the Philippines with the sole purpose of manipulating truth. 

As social media giants like Facebook and Twitter play cat-and-mouse with coordinated keyboard warriors who spread disinformation, prop up political clients or smear their opponents, historical whitewashing is finding new homes. Pro-Marcos propaganda is now proliferating on platforms like TikTok and YouTube that appeal primarily to Gen Z, ushering in a new era of fun, hip, glossily edited content that is harder to regulate online.

In the global war on the truth, the Philippines is especially vulnerable. About 99 percent of its population is online, and over half find it difficult to spot fake news. President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power in 2016 aided by a keyboard army and online hate campaigns, forever changing the online landscape.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/12/philippines-marcos-memory-election/

And it's not just the Philippines. 

Across the Philippines, it’s a virtual free-for-all. Trolls for companies. Trolls for celebrities. Trolls for liberal opposition politicians and the government. Trolls trolling trolls.

The world of Internet trolls — the gaslighting, the fabrications, the nastiness — is now a fact of life in the Web ecosystem nearly everywhere.

But something new is happening here: Experienced public relations experts in the Philippines are harnessing the raw energy of young and aggressive social media shape-shifters.

They are dramatically altering the political landscape in the Philippines with almost complete impunity — shielded by politicians who are so deep into this practice that they will not legislate against it, and using the cover of established PR firms that quietly offer these services. 

It is also showing signs of going global — with the Philippines as a hub — as the United States and countries across the world move into another election cycle in the troll age.

“This is what disinformation will look like in the U.S. in 2020,” said Camille François, chief innovation officer at the New York-based social network analysis company Graphika. 

Political manipulation, she said, does not need to come from an ill-intentioned enemy state. It can originate with those who have cut their teeth in the competitive worlds of advertising, media and marketing. Social media companies, she added, were caught off guard before — notably in the U.S. presidential election in 2016 — and could be yet again with this new iteration. 

“The Philippines shows us trends that are headed this way,” said François, who led a report commissioned by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigating Russian trolls in the United States. “And, it is 2019, the market is global — so they will find jobs outside of their own nation.” 

These ambitious operators now want to turn their country into the go-to place to influence corporate and political campaigns worldwide — using the same young, educated, English-speaking workforce that made the Philippines a global call center and content moderation hub.

The Washington Post interviewed over half a dozen paid trolls, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity and illegality of their work. They offered a glimpse into how Philippine trolls are shaping politics in their country and possibly showing signs of things to come elsewhere.

For the Senate candidate, for example, the hired trolls worked round-the-clock to flood platforms such as Twitter and Facebook with seemingly organic messages of support. Fans leaped to his defense, debated his critics and sang praises of his leadership style ahead of crucial midterm elections that were held in May. 

Except it is all an illusion, manufactured by hundreds of fake accounts all meticulously tracked on a spreadsheet. 

“This one, she is a fan of K-pop,” said one female worker, pointing to an open Twitter page showing the fake profile of a young, pink-cheeked woman. Buried among her fan posts for bands such as BTS are messages in support of the Senate candidate. The more likes and retweets, the better she’s doing.

The candidate was not elected, but he came close. 

Several paid troll farm operations and one self-described influencer say they have been approached and contracted by international clients, including from Britain, to do political work. Others are planning to expand overseas, hoping to start regionally. 

“It has all become an enterprise,” said Yvonne Chua, a journalism professor at the University of the Philippines who has extensively researched misinformation on the Internet. 

“It has come to a point where you can rely on the Philippines for all sorts of things: trolls, click farms, whatever you want.” 

https://archive.is/gqMsS

The Philippines offers two things that are in great demand: 1. Many Filipinos are proficient in English and 2. Filipinos will work for peanuts. Thats why call centers are outsourced here and why NYC has virtual cashiers based in Manila. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/567764/filipino-virtual-cashiers-taking-orders-at-new-york-restaurants

Your next order of fried chicken at a New York City restaurant may come with a “hello” from the Philippines.

Virtual assistants based in the Philippines have become a sought-after option for companies who want to do more with less.

 Some restaurants in New York City are now exploring this option to keep up with the rising costs of labor, rent and other overhead expenses.

As minimum wages soar – $16 in New York City and now $20 for fast food workers in California – restaurant owners are feeling the pinch.

Beamed on flat-screen monitors at self-service kiosks, virtual hosts from the Philippines are now taking orders at restaurants, including Yaso Kitchen, Sansan Chicken in Long Island and East Village. They welcome customers with flashing smiles — a hospitality trait Filipinos are renowned for.

The company pays Filipino virtual assistants $3 per hour — way less compared to US wages but considered a competitive rate in the Philippines.

Aiming to incorporate fair wages into fiscal accountability, Chi Zhang told Fortune, “We pay 150% more than the average cashier job in the Philippines.”

Like all virtual assistants from the Philippines, recognized as one of the largest English-speaking nations, Amber and other Filipinos working for Happy Cashiers speak perfect English.

Absolutely none of this should come as a surprise unless you are a normie who believes everything they see on the internet and are not a veteran of the Great Meme War of 2016 as well as the skirmishes which continue to this day. 

What is important to note here is the Philippines' central role in manipulating online perception around the globe. It's in the same category as the Philippines being the number one hub of OCSAM. As small as it is this archipelago nation plays a pivotal role in global politics and crime.