DOJ chief Vida says he has no info on Bato dela Rosa's alleged arrest

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida on Wednesday said he has no information regarding claims that Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has been arrested.

“On my part, I really have no information. I think it’s more of a law enforcement matter this time,” Vida said in an ambush interview.

This comes amid speculation online that the senator has been arrested.

In a post on Tuesday, Roque alleged that an individual betrayed Dela Rosa.

Vida said there is also no information from the National Bureau of Investigation.

“Completely wala,” he said.

For his part, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag dismissed as false reports that Dela Rosa had been arrested.

“Wala sa amin. Wala sa NBI. So hindi totoo. On our part, I can say na wala. Kasi otherwise, it will be reported to my office, so wala,” he said in an ambush interview.

(He is not with us. He is not with the NBI. So it is not true. On our part, I can say there is none because otherwise, it would have been reported to my office.)

Matibag also said he believes Dela Rosa remains in the Philippines.

“Kami lang, we’ll continue to do our manhunt to locate him. And ‘yun nga we have several areas na talagang tinututukan namin,” he said.

(For our part, we will continue our manhunt to locate him. As I mentioned, we have several areas that we are closely monitoring.)

Malacañang earlier said that claims on the alleged arrest are a diversion created by the allies of Vice President Sara Duterte to draw the public's attention away from the developments in her impeachment trial.

To recall, authorities attempted to serve the ICC warrant against Dela Rosa on May 11, leading to a chase inside the Senate building.

He was later placed under protective custody by the upper chamber.

A few hours after gunshots rang out while the Senate was placed on lockdown, Dela Rosa slipped out of the Senate after “hitching” a ride with Padilla.

Dela Rosa has not appeared in public since the incident. —AOL/MCG, GMA News