The complaint filed against Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa over his continued absence in the Senate may be dismissed if it is heard without the rules of the Upper Chamber getting amended. 

Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito pointed this out during a press briefing saying there is no provision about a “no work, no pay” either in the rules of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges or the entire Senate itself.

“Outright, if we are going to proceed with hearing the case, the case will be dismissed. It’s not in our rules, right? So it will be dismissed because you cannot find it anywhere in our rules in the ethics panel or in the rules of the Senate,” Ejercito said in an interview on Wednesday, March 18. 

“We just have to amend the rules first and then probably they can refile,” the senator said. 

The ethics complaint against Dela Rosa was filed by the civil society group “Wag Kang KuCorrupt” last Feb. 25, 2026. The group urged the Senate ethics panel to conduct an inquiry to check whether Dela Rosa committed a violation of the Senate rules and ethical standards and impose appropriate sanctions if warranted.

The group alleged that Dela Rosa’s continued absence in the Senate and failure to perform the functions of his office “constitutes not only a clear dereliction of duty but also a grave abuse of the privilege entrusted to him by the Filipino people.”

But Ejercito said a fellow senator has to push for the amendment of the existing rules first to avoid the dismissal of the complaint.

“If any member would propose that the rules be amended or proposed the inclusion of such provision—the ‘no work, no pay’—then we can make the necessary amendment,” he said. 

“If it must prosper, then they have to amend the rules and include the no work, no pay policy,” he pointed out.

Nine complaints

As of Wednesday, March 18, Ejercito said that a total of nine complaints had been lodged before the ethics committee.

The committee, he reiterated, will hear all complaints based on a “first in, first out” basis. 

The complaint against Dela Rosa is the sixth in line.

Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, has not attended any session at the Senate since November 2025, when news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued a warrant of arrest against him came out. 

Dela Rosa is one of the alleged co-perpetrators of former president Rodrigo Duterte in his crimes against humanity case at the ICC in relation to its investigation into the Duterte administration’s brutal war on drugs.