CHICKENPIE.A senator hid from international law inside the building where laws are made. This is either the most ironic thing that has ever happened or the most Filipino thing that has ever happened. Probably both.
Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa returned to the Senate in May after six months in hiding. He wasn’t hiding from a stalker. He was hiding from the International Criminal Court — specifically, from a warrant for crimes against humanity tied to the Duterte administration’s drug war. He didn’t turn himself in. He went to work. He showed up at his office, in the Senate, and dared international law to come find him there.
International law did not come find him there. The Philippine Marines did.
At 7:44 in the evening, armed soldiers in bulletproof vests marched down the corridors of the upper chamber. Gunshots followed. Not metaphorical gunshots. Actual gunshots, near the GSIS building next door. The Senate went on lockdown — which is apparently something you can do to a legislature — and dela Rosa escaped under cover of that chaos. His wife confirmed his exit via text message. Which is, again, exactly the dignity this moment deserved.
While all this was happening, the Senate also found time to stage a coup. The Duterte-allied bloc ousted the Senate President, installed their own. Three weeks later, they got ousted back. Jinggoy Estrada was arrested at his Senate desk by Sandiganbayan officers — mid-session, at work, like a normal Tuesday. He took it with the resignation of someone who has been at this since the Erap years.
The Senate has a canteen, a gym, and — per the events of May 2026 — a functional escape route that the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction over yet.
Dela Rosa is out. The Senate is open. The ICC is still waiting. The gap between what this building is supposed to be and what it actually is can be measured in one thing: the distance between the gallery doors and wherever they’ve hidden the fire exit.
