‘Bato presumed armed, dangerous’

As a fugitive from justice, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa is presumed to be “armed and dangerous” and should be dealt “with caution,” National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag said.

- By EJ MACABABBAD

“It’s our standard protocol. If we’re doing a search or locating a fugitive from justice, our presumption is that he is armed and dangerous,” Matibag said at the Saturday News Forum.

“So our instruction to our law enforcement and NBI agents is to proceed with caution ... in the area where he is suspected to be,” Matibag stressed.

The NBI and the Philippine National Police have deployed dedicated tracker teams to arrest Dela Rosa, who has an outstanding warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Dela Rosa has been in hiding since November last year when news of ICC's issuance of an arrest warrant came out. He resurfaced briefly last May 11 during a Senate coup that saw the ouster of Sen. Vicente Sotto III as Senate president and the takeover of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who gave him "protective custody" that shielded him from arrest.