Manila, Philippines – With the scheduled start of the Bicameral Conference Committee tomorrow for the 2026 national budget, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stated that Senator Bato Dela Rosa cannot be accommodated if he requests to attend online.
According to Gatchalian, this is not in the Bicam rules, and it is also uncertain if his amendments would be considered in the bicameral body even if he submits them in writing to the committee.
Dela Rosa serves as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Finance, which automatically makes him part of the conferees in the bicameral meeting.
Although Dela Rosa has not formally resigned as a member of the Bicam, Gatchalian expects him to attend despite his month-long absence from the Senate.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) previously stated that local authorities had started tracking the senator’s whereabouts.
According to SILG Jonvic Remulla, they are merely making sure to know his location when the alleged arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) be issued to arrest him.
Within three weeks, they have monitored six places he frequents, and he’s been visiting his friends according to DILG.
Remulla, however, stressed that the agency will not act unless there is an order from a local court.
The reports surfaced amid the ICC investigation into the drug war, but the government insisted that only local courts have the authority to issue an arrest order.