EDITORIAL - No work, no pay

With the secretary of justice leading a team to pick up Elizaldy Co in the Czech Republic, doubts are being dispelled that the story of Co’s arrest is fake news. So it looks like Co will be heading back to Manila – although how soon is anybody’s guess.

Meanwhile, people continue to wait for another official to surface. Five months after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa stopped showing up in public and attending legislative sessions, the chamber remains unable to impose any sanctions on a member who – if he had been working in the private sector – would have already been fired for prolonged absence without valid cause.

In making himself scarce, Dela Rosa has made no secret of trying to avoid the fate of his mentor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague by virtue of a request coursed by the ICC through the International Criminal Police Organization.

Dela Rosa went underground following an announcement by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla last year that he has a copy of an ICC order for the senator’s arrest.

The ICC has been mum on its arrest orders or requests coursed through the Interpol through so-called diffusion orders.

But the ICC has issued a list of Duterte’s “co-perpetrators” in the case of crimes against humanity in connection with his brutal war on drugs. Leading the list is Dela Rosa, said to be the architect of Oplan Tokhang and the chief implementer of the bloody crackdown when he was national police chief under Duterte.

Dela Rosa, however, is not the only senator named as co-perpetrator, which could warrant an ICC arrest order. Sen. Bong Go is also there, but has not skipped Senate sessions, and continues to go around the country freely.

Despite going on prolonged, indefinite absence, Dela Rosa continues to receive his salary, which is about P300,000 a month in basic pay alone. This is apart from allowances as well as the much bigger maintenance and other operating expenses allotted to his Senate office.

The Senate committee on ethics and privileges, which is being pressed to impose sanctions for absenteeism, just recently approved new internal rules and guidelines that could be applied to Dela Rosa, but these have yet to be officially enacted following publication.

While waiting for the official enactment, the ethics panel has been left to appeal to Dela Rosa to at least forgo his salary, following the principle of no work, no pay.

A senator should not even be asked to stop abusing the privileges of high office. He should voluntarily do so because it is the right thing to do.