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Tito Sotto and Alan Peter Cayetano confer at the plenary hall amid a powergrab of a new majority that replaced Sotto as Senate president on Monday, May 11, 2026. Longtime absentee Sen. Bato dela Rosa also appeared for the first time in seven months to cast his vote on new leadership.
Senate PRIB; Philstar.com composite
MANILA, Philippines — Prior to being removed as Senate president, Vicente Sotto III had no idea Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa would suddenly appear on the day authorities attempted to arrest him.
Sotto said Tuesday that on the morning of Monday, May 11, a representative from the National Bureau of Investigation informed him that Dela Rosa would be served a warrant of arrest.
"I didn't realize that he (Dela Rosa) was coming. I did not know that he was going to be there in the afternoon," Sotto said in a speech.
"I just thought it was just a simple information given to a Senate president that a member of the Senate will be issued a warrant of arrest," he added.
Sotto said he merely advised the NBI to coordinate with the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
"Little did I know that Senator Dela Rosa, after seven months of not being here, would suddenly come," he said.
Arrest attempt
Dela Rosa resurfaced Monday after months out of public view and voted in the 13-9 leadership shakeup that ousted Sotto and installed Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president.
The senators who backed Cayetano were widely viewed as allies of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The coup unfolded on the same day the House of Representatives voted to transmit the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the Senate.
Sotto said the situation could have been handled differently had they been informed beforehand that Dela Rosa intended to reappear.
"If he informed me he was coming, I'd have given a different perspective, just like when the CIDG issued a subpoena to Dela Rosa's office," Sotto said.
The attempted arrest caused chaos inside the Senate complex after NBI agents chased Dela Rosa through the building before the chamber later placed him under Senate custody.
The Senate, now under Cayetano's leadership, also cited several individuals involved in the incident in contempt.
ICC warrant confirmed
The International Criminal Court confirmed Monday evening the existence of a warrant of arrest against Dela Rosa.
According to the ICC, Dela Rosa is allegedly liable as an indirect co-perpetrator for crimes against humanity of murder committed between July 2016 and April 2018 that resulted in the deaths of at least 32 people.
As of posting, there was still no official confirmation that the articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte had been formally transmitted to the Senate.
