By Lane Afable, News Editor
Officials from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) attempted but failed to locate Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at the home of Sen. Robin Padilla’s uncle in Pampanga on Wednesday, a local official said.
In a phone interview with reporters, Barangay Balibago chairperson Joseph Ponce said the house is located inside Diamond Subdivision in Angeles City and identified the homeowner as Lakay Cariño, reportedly Padilla’s uncle on his mother’s side.
“Investigators assumed that, along the way from when Dela Rosa left the Senate, Senator Bato transferred to the pick-up truck of Sir Lakay Cariño. That’s why they entered the latter’s home,” Ponce explained in a mix of English and Filipino.
“Lakay Cariño told us last week that some CIDG personnel have been asking about him to the homeowners’ association… That’s why he told me that he’d go back to Manila for now, so the pick-up isn’t there anymore and I know it’s not.,” he added.
Ponce explained that Cariño was his security consultant and the president of the subdivision’s senior citizens group.
“Senator Bato was also not there,” he further noted.
Dela Rosa is wanted by the ICC over his alleged participation in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which killed up to 30,000 people, according to human rights groups’ estimates.
Dela Rosa resurfaced in the Senate after six months on May 11 but was last seen leaving its premises early morning on May 14 after the shooting incident there.
A week later, the Department of Justice ordered the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation to implement the ICC warrant against dela Rosa.
