Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday said that Senator Ronald dela Rosa—who is in hiding amid a reported international warrant against him—could be compelled to attend sessions, including through an arrest order, if his vote would be critical to the chamber.
“Our rules state that when there is a vote and your vote is important, or it is important that everyone votes… the Senate President can order a senator to be brought in or arrested to cast their vote,” he explained.
Sotto clarified that this rule applies only when a senator’s presence is essential to pass legislation or settle key matters in the Senate.
Dela Rosa has been absent from Senate sessions since Nov. 11, 2025, after reports that the International Criminal Court allegedly issued a warrant against him over the bloody war on drugs during the previous administration.
Dela Rosa presided over the anti-drug campaign of the Duterte administration as the chief of the Philippine National Police at the time. He was elected to the Senate in 2019 and won reelection last year.
Despite his absence, Sotto said Dela Rosa’s Senate office continues to operate and carry out official duties, with his personal social media page showing activity as recently as Dec. 16, 2025.
The Senate President said he sent multiple texts and made calls to Dela Rosa since late last year but received no replies.
Sotto’s last message concerned Dela Rosa’s role in the bicameral conference committee on the 2026 national budget, where the senator serves as vice chairman of the Senate finance panel.
“To each his own… that’s how it is. He chooses not to come in, but his office is still functioning,” said Sotto, pointing out that no current measure has yet required Dela Rosa’s vote.
Previously, Sotto confirmed that dela Rosa continues to receive his salary despite his absence, noting that lawmakers are not covered by any “no work, no pay” rule and that the amount has already been allotted under the national budget.
The Senate leader also said he does not see the need to amend the chamber’s rules to cover prolonged absences, noting that this has always been the practice in past Congresses.
Instead, Sotto said the public may file an ethics complaint if they wish to question a lawmaker’s conduct.
Under the government’s compensation system, senators stand to earn at least P293,191 monthly or about P3.52 million annually under Salary Grade 31, with potential for increases.
Senators also receive various allowances for committee responsibilities and their other duties.
This is in line with the Senate’s practice of compensating its lawmakers even in absentia, such as in the cases of Senators Panfilo Lacson, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Leila de Lima.
In his previous term as senator, Lacson received his salary and benefits from January 2010 — when he famously went into hiding when he was accused of the murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito—until September that year.
That was due to the Commission on Audit pressuring the Senate to stop all payments to Lacson’s office, as it questioned the expenses incurred by his office, particularly the disbursements made without his signed authorization during his time as a fugitive.
At the time, Lacson’s office reportedly received P2 million a month as its budget, while the senator received P36,000 a month in salary.
In Trillanes’ case, he had never stepped into the Senate since he was elected in May of 2007, as he was detained for his involvement in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula siege of 2007.
Though detained, Trillanes was still allowed to sign all disbursements relating to his office.
Similarly, De Lima, who was imprisoned in 2017 under the Duterte regime on drug-trafficking charges but later exonerated, received her full salary and benefits until the end of her Senate term in 2022.
She was elected to the House of Representatives last year through the Mamamayang Liberal Party-List.
