It’s been two months since Sen. Ronald dela Rosa went missing in action from the Senate, mainly over unconfirmed reports that he might join his former boss at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague.
Lawmakers are paid enormous sums in basic salary and allowances, courtesy of taxpayers. Millions more are spent for the maintenance and other operating expenses of their offices. They get additional millions in “bonuses” each time they go on break.
They should at least give taxpayers value for money by performing the work expected of them. This cannot be done in absentia or by Zoom. Otherwise all lawmakers would want the same privilege of attending sessions remotely, working from home or wherever they are holed out to evade possible arrest.
There are exceptions, such as when the senator is restricted and given no choice but to perform legislative work remotely. This was the case when Leila de Lima was held without bail on drug charges filed by the Duterte administration when she was a senator.
De Lima, now a party-list representative of Mamamayang Liberal, has said she resents the comparison of her involuntary work restriction with Dela Rosa’s voluntary absence from the Senate.
Dela Rosa went underground beginning in November after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said he had a copy of an arrest order from the International Criminal Court for the senator.
The ICC reportedly wants Dela Rosa for possible crimes against humanity in connection with his role as the chief implementer of the bloody campaign against illegal drugs when Rodrigo Duterte was president. The Duterte administration said over 6,000 drug suspects were killed in police operations, ostensibly for resisting arrest or fighting back.
No one, however, has a hard copy of the supposed ICC order, and no government agency has officially confirmed receipt of an arrest warrant. The ICC has declined to confirm the story.
ICC arrest warrants are typically coursed through the International Criminal Police Organization. So far, the Interpol has no alert anywhere in its public color-coded system covering Dela Rosa. If there is an Interpol order that has not been made public, surely Dela Rosa would have been tipped off by his supporters in the police and he would have denounced it.
Yesterday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, himself a former national police chief and fugitive, advised Dela Rosa to come out of hiding already and report for duty at the Senate.
Contrary to what Dela Rosa and his allies the globe-trotting Duterte siblings seem to believe, the government is not supposed to be operated by remote. And lawmakers are not paid to work from home, or from a hideaway.