PNP: Bato Dela Rosa left Senate in Robin Padilla's vehicle after shooting incident

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday confirmed that Senator Ronald dela Rosa was seen leaving the Senate premises shortly after last week’s shooting incident in a vehicle registered to Senator Robin Padilla.

PNP chief Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. disclosed this during a Palace briefing, as he showed video footage of a white Toyota Fortuner exiting the Senate complex at around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 14.

The PNP has yet to release to the media a copy of the full video allegedly showing Dela Rosa leaving the Senate.

“It shows a white Fortuner and personalities going out from the Senate. Particularly makita natin doon ang (we could see there particularly) Senator Bato and Senator Robin Padilla going to the vehicle na Fortuner,” Nartatez said, describing the unreleased footage.

“Per records inquiry, it is owned by Senator Padilla,” he added.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla also confirmed that the vehicle belongs to Padilla.

“That is them getting away,” Remulla said while presenting another video showing the vehicle exiting the Senate premises.

Padilla earlier acknowledged that the vehicle identified in the footage belongs to him.

However, when asked whether Dela Rosa was inside the vehicle, Padilla laughed and replied: “Antayin na lang natin yung imbestigasyon.”

(Let’s just wait for the investigation.)

On May 11, Dela Rosa resurfaced at the Senate for the first time since November 2025 to cast his vote in favor of a Senate leadership change.

After his allies wrested control of the chamber’s leadership, Dela Rosa’s allies subsequently approved a motion placing him under the Senate’s protective custody.

This came after the International Criminal Court confirmed that it had issued a warrant of arrest against Dela Rosa over his alleged role in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs during his tenure as PNP chief.

On May 13, the Senate went into lockdown a few hours after Dela Rosa urged his supporters to hold a vigil to block his arrest.

Later that evening, gunshots rang out at the premises of the upper chamber. Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano went on Facebook live to call for help and declare that the Senate was “allegedly under attack.”

He repeated this in a press conference the following day, as he pounded the rostrum to stress that the Senate was under attack the night before.

Malacañang and Remulla later said the upper chamber was never under attack, although Remulla could not say if the “gun-related incident” was staged. —MCG/JMA, GMA News