Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said on Tuesday, May 12 that he was not personally receiving his salary and allowances during the six months he was absent from the Senate. 

Dela Rosa clarified it was his secretary claiming it for him during the first few months but he was not getting it personally.

“Nahihiya na ako sa taumbayan na sumusuweldo ako kahit na hindi ko kini-claim yung sweldo ko diyan sa baba. Hindi ko kine-claim (I’m ashamed that I am getting my salary even though I’m not claiming my pay. I’m not claiming it),” Dela Rosa said in an interview. 

“My secretary was the one claiming it for me. How can I personally get it when I was not here at the Senate?” he pointed out.

In later months, he said his staff stopped collecting the salary on his behalf out of embarrassment.

The senator said he is willing to return the portion of the salary which he did not spend. According to him, part of the money was used for relief operations.

Dela Rosa said there’s no need for the Senate leadership, of then Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, to ask him to give up his salary and allowances. 

“Kahit hindi nila ako i-encourage, may konsensya naman ako. Mahiya naman ako sa taumbayan. Sabi ko nga…gamitin niyo sa kawang-gawa, mga relief efforts natin para mapunta sa taumbayan yang pera na yan (Even if they don’t encourage me, I have conscience. I’m ashamed. I told them… use the money for our relief efforts so our people would still benefit from the money),” he said.

Earlier, Sotto, the former Senate president and Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, then chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, formally asked Dela Rosa to comment on the ethics complaint against him and the proposal to impose a “no work, no pay” policy for absentee senators.

Ejercito said Dela Rosa has yet to respond to the request. But on Monday, May 11, 13 senators, including Dela Rosa, voted to remove Sotto as Senate president and install Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as the new Senate leader.

It was the first time Dela Rosa appeared at the Senate since his last attendance in Nov. 11, 2025. He went missing after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla claimed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant for him.

Right after appearing at the Senate, operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), together with former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, arrived at the Upper Chamber’s premises and tried to serve the ICC’s arrest warrant.

However, Cayetano, later granted Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s motion to grant Dela Rosa Senate protective custody and the motion to cite the NBI agents who tried to arrest the senator in contempt.