Sleepless Bato to Marcos: Don’t send me to ICC

MANILA, Philippines —  Sen. Ronald dela Rosa didn’t sleep a wink in the office of colleague Jinggoy Estrada where he is holed up under protective custody of the Senate, as he urged President Marcos not to send him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

“I’m appealing to you, I’m not angry at you. Take care of Filipinos, don’t let them get flown to another country,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino, addressing Marcos.

“You are the President. It’s your moral obligation, not only constitutional mandate, to protect each and every Filipino from getting flown to another country,” he added.

Dela Rosa spent the night with his longtime ally Sen. Robinhood Padilla in Estrada’s office on the sixth floor, just a few steps away from the Senate helipad.

In an interview with reporters at 8 a.m., Dela Rosa said he barely slept and ate very little despite the good food offered to him in Estrada’s office.

He faced the media wearing sandals, a pair of khaki shorts and a plain colored shirt, flanked by security. His daughter and chief of staff, sporting pink Crocs walked beside him.

The senator scoffed at being ordered arrested by a foreign court, as he denied ordering the murder of poor drug pushers and users as the police chief who implemented former president Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.

“I didn’t kill anyone. I never ordered anyone to kill. They know it. Those in the ICC believe in their fabrication,” he said in Filipino, referring to his accusers. “Everything is fabricated.”

Dela Rosa admitted having ill feelings toward former Senate president Vicente Sotto III for not informing him of the National Bureau of Investigation’s plan to serve the ICC arrest warrant before the Monday session.

But he said he was willing to set aside his grudge, as he has high respect for the former Senate leader.

Dela Rosa had lunch with his allies in Estrada’s office while the members of the new minority had a lunch meeting with now minority leader Sotto in a separate room.

He showed up during session at 3 p.m. in a barong jacket and in a better mood, no longer fuming unlike during Monday’s session when he emerged catching his breath after running away from NBI agents.

He had light banter with photographers before the session, even showing off his bandaged fingers, which were hurt when he fell on the stairs.

In an interview before the session, The STAR asked Dela Rosa if he is already feeling at home in the Senate, wearing sandals.

“No choice. Alangan naman pati matulog ako, naka-sapatos (Can’t be sleeping wearing shoes),” was his answer.

Dela Rosa said he was able to talk with Vice President Sara Duterte and teased her to send him a box of pizza. He denied talking to her about her looming impeachment trial at the Senate. “She’s just asking how she can help,” Dela Rosa said of the Vice President

Asked if he is worried for his safety while holed up in the Senate premises, Dela Rosa laughed and said who wouldn’t be worried about being whisked away to The Hague, like what happened to the former president Rodrigo Duterte.

With his world now smaller, Dela Rosa just shrugged and said he is leaving everything up to God.