Part 15: An old order gives way to a new one, reshaping local politics

What would have been otherwise a cooling-off for the Senate leadership change Monday instead turned into a shootout Wednesday inside Senate premises, when a band of National Bureau Investigation uniformed and armed operatives tried to access a connecting backdoor between the Senate and the GSIS offices.

This appeared irregular even as GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso later “owned” allegedly calling the NBI a to secure its side of the same building.

Which eyebrows would not raise over this lame excuse? It is not the job description of the NBI securing company property, equipment, and sensitive areas which normally calls for either blueshirts or private guards, or the police.

The fact that the Monday commotion was caused by the NBI which coordinated with unseated Senate president Tito Sotto, it was a long stretch of creativity to also secure the GSIS side with the NBI.

As result, it caused more serious  consequences, as shots were exchanged between intruding NBI operatives and Senate house security which was supported by the Philippine marines and the Philippine National Police, led by Acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca.

On Monday and Wednesday, the area was occupied by NBI personnel that neither NBI Director Melvin Matibag or President Bongbong Marcos admits authorizing.

A confidential agent, however, dropped the name of Jerome Bomediano, who heads the NBI Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division, as having authorized and led the operation to serve the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa,

According to Senator Imee Marcos, that order had a caveat- “regardless of what  happens and who gets hurt.”

A non-lawyer, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, called the incident “unforgivable”. He also said that if the President’s categorical statement that he did not order the arrest of Senator dela Rosa, then “the public deserves to know: under whose authority were agents of (NBI) operating within the Senate premises?

 Who gave the directive, and who must  ultimately be held accountable?”

By the way my version of the NBI attack is based from live reports as events were unfolding. I commend the Senate press for standing their ground and aggressively releasing  videos and evolving narratives on a real time basis.

Aplasca suspension

What added to the mindless incongruency was two days after, on May15, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla placed Acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Aplasca under a six-month preventive suspension without pay, after he admitted to firing the first warning shot to prevent a forcible entry by NBI agents from further advancing from the GSIS side of the building.

I mean just like that – six months suspension without pay for doing your job.

No investigations, no request to explain the circumstances of his action and worse, performing his duties and responsibilities, in a jurisdiction outside the powers of the Ombudsman.

When the Office of the Ombudsman served last Saturday the order suspending Aplasca as well as its subpoena for the recordings and other pertinent information regarding the standoff, the Senate refused to accept them.

It has been a long-stablished jurisprudence by the Supreme Court that the Office of the Ombudsman has disciplinary authority over most government officials, but is barred by law from penalizing or suspending sitting members of Congress. For example, when the Ombudsman has attempted to serve dismissal or suspension orders to senators in the past, the Senate has refused to enforce them on the grounds that only the Senate itself has the power to discipline its members.

Legislative staff and officers (like the Sergeant-at-Arms) who act strictly under the direction of the Senate are protected by parliamentary independence. If the Ombudsman issues suspension or subpoena orders regarding these legislative officers, the Senate can challenge them or refuse to comply if doing so infringes on internal congressional proceedings or separation of powers.

The ultimate authority on these jurisdictional issues rests with the Supreme Court, which has final say over the limits of the Ombudsman’s powers when contested by an independent branch of government.

Remulla’s bull-headedness might just put the already  beleaguered presidency on Marcos Jr into another the possibility of a withdrawal of support by Philippine military as the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sinagtala” Class of 1986 have issued a manifesto backing both Senator Ronald Dela Rosa and General Aplasca.

The latter is officially a member of this PMA “Hinirang” Class 1987, although he originally trained with Dela Rosa’s 1986 batch. N the security community,

Aplasca’s reputation rose over his “mistahs” when in just one month, he stopped the “tanim bala” controversy after being appointed chief of airport security at the NAIA system during the Duterte presidency.

Leadership nuances

The Philippine Senate has undergone many changes of leadership in the past, because unlike the American Constitution which copied, the Vice-President-elect does not ex-officio the president of the Senate.

A simple vote of the majority, 12 senators plus one, elects its leadership. Under the administration of President Marcos Jr., however, the Philippine Senate leadership has changed four times in just four years:

• Juan Miguel Zubiri: July 2022 to May 2024
• Francis “Chiz” Escudero: May 2024 to September 2025
• Vicente “Tito” Sotto III: September 2025 to May 2026
• Alan Peter Cayetano: May 11, 2026 to present

Being a senator of the republic is one of the pivotal positions in Philippine democracy. Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the president’s signature to become a law, the Senate is the only body that can concur with treaties and try impeachment cases.

The president of the Senate is also second in the presidential line of succession.

In a situation where the House of Representatives has already impeached the sitting vice president, her conviction by the Senate will automatically shift succession to the senate president, in case the president is unseated for whatever reason.

But this attack on a co-equal branch of government by the President’s men is not as simple as it seems. The underlying factors are even more damning.

The change of leadership has severe implications:

ICC warrant

A white paper was shot to my email today indicating dangerous signals starting with “The deception of this government against the Filipino people has become too blatant to ignore. Worse, they seem to believe that the Filipino nation  remans ignorant and incapable of understanding what is happening before their very eyes.

“Senator Bato dela Rosa is not a fugitive from justice. He is a free Filipino citizen who has never been convicted of any crime under the laws of our own Republic.

“The warrant of arrest issued by the ICC is nothing less than a direct assault against our Constitution and an insult to the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines.

“Our Constitution is crystal clear: only Philippine courts have the lawful authority to issue a warrant of arrest against a Filipino citizen. The obedience and cooperation of the NBI with the orders of a foreign tribunal is a painful display of submission to foreign powers and a shameful abandonment of our nation’s dignity and independence.

“This is about trampling upon the constitutional rights of Senator Bato in order to surrender him to the jurisdiction of foreigners. Those orchestrating his political persecution probably believe that the Filipino people will simply accept the legal narrative.

Blue ribbon delays

Second, the white paper continued. “The nation is not blind to the greed, corruption, and shameless plunder of public funds being concealed behind this carefully crafted political drama. They fear that their crimes against the Filipino people will soon be exposed, and that is why they seek to regain full control of the Senate by silencing, weakening, and removing individuals who may stand in the way of their agenda—and among them is Senator Bato.”

In the coming days, the world will slowly uncover the real reason behind Malacanang’s  desperation to arrest and hand over Senator Bato to a foreign court: not for justice, but to tighten their grip on the Senate and bury the truth about the crimes committed against the Filipino people.

Through the combined Katzenjammer antics of former Senate President Sotto and Blue-Ribbon Chairman Panfilo Lacson, the upper house has been converted since September 2025 as a camouflage against exposing more gruesome details about the flood-control scandal by Orly Guteza and how hundreds of millions of public funds were packed by former Marines into numerous pieces of luggage (Tag. maletas) and delivered to various destinations, foremost which were addresses connected to former Speaker Martin Romualdez and alleged proxies for the President and the first family.

Lacson dragged his feet as chair, even resigning to create a month’s pause, creating temporary delays along the way occasionally postponing hearings, allegedly waiting for critical affidavits from the Department of Justice (DOJ), conflicting budget deliberations, and the need for a comprehensive evidence-based committee report.

When 18 more Marines executed corroborative sworn statements to bolster Guteza by February 2026 , instead of  showing enthusiasm and reconvening the committee, he pointed out that transporting the alleged 805 billion in cash was—a logistical nightmare. He stated that moving and recounting that much money would take until at least 2027 even working around the clock.

Worse, Lacson threw doubts on the credibility of the 18 witnesses, as the Armed Forces of the Philippines said most of them were not active military; and at least 10 of them had been dishonorably discharged for being absent without official leave (AWOL) or other offenses.

The blue-ribbon chair urged the group and their counsel, Atty. Levito Baligod, to instead retract what he thought were bloated figures and adjust their testimonies to what is “within the realm of possibilities” before presenting them to the Senate.

What helped trigger a leadership change in the senate, was  when he composed a progress report on the systemic corruption in flood control projects, most senators refused to sign the report by May because they believed the probe unfairly spared House representatives while it became rather obvious that Lacson had prejudged the case.

Impeachment delay debunked

Newly-installed senate President Allan Cayetano categorically denied claims that Tito Sotto was removed from senate leadership to  intentionally delay or derail the impeachment proceedings against Sara Duterte, emphasizing that the Senate constitutionally is mandated to hold the trial and promised to act “forthwith” to carry out the chamber’s duties.

To prove his point, he asserted that the Senate majority members precisely staged a caucus last Wednesday to wait for the House officials submit the full documentation of their endorsement for the trial of the impeached vice president.

Cayetano also proved his word by convening the Senate as a trial body Monday, May 18 as the senators have decided when Sotto was still presiding. The Washington Post headlined “Philippine Senate convenes as impeachment court to try vice president as political storm rages.

“…in a time of deep divisions that erupted into an exchange of gunfire last week in the chamber.

“The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Duterte last Monday over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and a public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself were killed due to their political disputes.

“The vice president, who has announced her plan to seek the presidency in 2028, has denied the charges but has refused to answer the allegations in detail. Her lawyers said without elaborating that they “will file the appropriate response … in accordance with the Constitution and applicable rules.”

Legal boundaries

On the issue involving the International Criminal Court, two legal luminaries struck sharp distinctions;

Former Associate Justice Noel Tijam said “The ICC is a “Court of last resort” intended to complement national judicial systems, not replace them.

“The Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC. The Philippine Supreme Court is 125 years old and the highest court in the Philippines.

“The ICC is not superior than the Philippine Supreme Court. The ICC cannot overturn decisions made by national Supreme Courts. The ICC operates around national systems rather than above them, stepping in only when national justice mechanism fails. The ICC relies on voluntary cooperation; it has no independent police force to execute warrants.

“The truth of the matter is that all Filipinos will fight for Philippine sovereignty just like our national heroes and resist all forms of foreign intervention where the issue was not about the Dutertes.

“The ICC drug war complaint is a pretext and mere subterfuge. It could have been prosecuted before Philippine Courts which are actively functioning.

“The elephant in the room which many refuse to acknowledge is that- powerful political actors both foreign and domestic want the Dutertes remove from the political equation. That is the sole objective in surrendering our sovereignty. This pretension is our national shame. This hypocrisy is our national ignominy.”

Sitting Senior Associate Justice Marvin Leonen’s sword was sharper as he warned against the Supreme Court acting as “judicial dictators” by dictating foreign policy or thwarting the co-equal Executive and Legislative branches. He emphasized that the Court must remain an anchor for constitutional equilibrium rather than intervening in political windstorms.

Leonen expressed caution against simply deferring to international tribunals. He emphasized the importance of trusting the capability and capacity of Philippine courts to hold local officials accountable, noting that the country has an independent judiciary capable of dispensing justice.

Moreover. what Leonen recently established in his formal interpellation of international law expert Rommel Bagares, sent tingles to the spines of law practitioners who often conveniently references Republic Act 9851 (Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law) as the Philippines own version of the Rome Statute that formulated the existence of the International Criminal Court.

The senior associate justice continuously pressed Bagares to provide the exact statutory text that expressly recognizes the ICC as an operational, additional court. “Show me where in that statute does it say that the President should bind ourselves to an additional layer?”

Bagares argued that RA 9851 recognized the ICC system through its Sections 2 and 15. Leonen rejected this, pointing out that interpretation requires a clear text to begin with, which does not exist in the said law.

Leonen highlighted that the Senate and the House selectively adopted only specific provisions of the Rome Statute into domestic legislation. Therefore, the entire ICC system or an independent tribunal was never incorporated entirely into Philippine domestic law.

Pressed to show where the Philippine government explicitly agreed to be bound by the ICC’s additional jurisdiction over domestic institutions, Bagares admitted: “It’s not there expressly, your honor.”

Therefore, the impression is only implicit which means it is not in the letter of the law and cannot be interpreted to be part of the law.

Conclusion

Amid the sourgraping by what now composes the senate minority, and pundits and trolls on their payroll, the composition of the majority has been widely welcomed by the general public.

Our national hero, Jose Rizal, passed through this same path of polarization between falsity and truth occurring through more fascist environment during the near-end of the Spanish era.

He left us with this wisdom: “The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice and negligence of others.”

Next: Nation’s Hope for an Independent Senate

   

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