Heads must roll over Bato dela Rosa’s escape: Marcos Jr. admin must be held accountable

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

PRESS RELEASE

May 14, 2026



Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831

KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580

Heads must roll over Bato dela Rosa’s escape: Marcos Jr. admin must be held accountable

 
“Heads must roll over Bato dela Rosa’s escape from the Senate. Accountability does not stop with the senators involved — it extends all the way to the Marcos Jr. and his state forces. They allowed an international fugitive to slip away, making a mockery of the Filipino people’s demand that he be arrested and made to face the charges against him before the ICC.”

Thus said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of KARAPATAN, as the group strongly condemned the reported escape of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa from the Senate, days after he publicly appeared there and following the series of developments overnight.

“Apart from their absurd narrative about alleged attacks and shootings, these senators effectively enabled the escape of one of the principal architects of mass killings under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte. Let that sink in,” Palabay said.

“These senators, including Robin Padilla, Bong Go, Imee Marcos and Alan Peter Cayetano, who belong to Bato’s political camp, must answer to the Filipino people. The police leadership and the publicity-hungry DILG secretary must also be investigated over who facilitated this escape, especially given the thousands of police personnel deployed around the Senate premises,” she added.

KARAPATAN said the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cannot evade responsibility for the incident, stressing the government’s command responsibility over state security forces and law enforcement agencies.

“Dela Rosa has once again benefited from the entrenched culture of impunity in the Philippines, and the Marcos Jr. administration bears responsibility for allowing this to happen. Marcos Jr. and his officials are now complicit in coddling a fugitive accused of grave crimes,” Palabay said.

“Ordinary Filipinos are arrested daily with ruthless efficiency, yet a former police chief linked to thousands of deaths is given every opportunity to evade justice,” KARAPATAN added.

As the group renewed its calls for justice for the victims of the so-called war on drugs and all victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte, KARAPATAN said the Filipino people are calling for accountability.

“Let the public expose his whereabouts and assist efforts toward justice. Let us show that the Filipino people do not stand with criminal coddlers in the Senate and the Marcos Jr. government, but with the victims and the continuing fight for justice.”

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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.