The Senate should be the one explaining how Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa left its facilities and why he was even allowed to go considering that there is an existing arrest warrant against him, a top official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.

That is if Dela Rosa indeed left the Senate—and NBI director Melvin Matibag said they are still in the process of confirming the incident, from the Senate Secretary General and Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms (OSAA).

“We have yet to validate the report. It would be better if that question is addressed to the Senate, the Office of the Secretary General and OSAA, because they are the ones who know if there was an actual incident that is being reported on social media,” said Matibag in a press briefing at Malacañang.

At the height of the gunfire on Wednesday night, there were claims on social media that it was a distraction intended to facilitate the escape of Dela Rosa.

Those claims, however, were shut down when Dela Rosa was seen inside the Senate premises after the situation normalized in the Senate.

But on Thursday morning, rumors again circulated that Dela Rosa left the Senate past 2 a.m. and was accompanied by another senator.

Don’t look at us

On the part of the NBI, Matibag said they did their part to enforce the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC)—the reason behind the viral running incident at the Senate involving dela Rosa.

But Matibag said they had to withdraw in order to honor the protective custody issued by the Senate for Dela Rosa, explaining that the NBI must respect a co-equal branch of the government.

Another factor for not insisting on arresting dela Rosa, according to Matibag, was that they have to respect another co-equal branch of the government, the Supreme Court which is tackling the petition of the camp of the senator to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the ICC arrest warrant enforcement.

And despite the fact that there was no TRO issued and that the Supreme Court only asked the parties concerned to comment, Matibag said they still decided to respect the process by waiting for the conclusion of the legal issue.

“There order from the Supreme Court for concerned parties to respond in 72 hours, so we believe that it is just a short period of time so we decided to just wait for the decision, for the direction that our court will go on this matter,” said Matibag.

And then the Senate gunfire incident came.

He’s your responsibility

And with rumors of Dela Rosa slipping out the Senate premises, Matibag said they remain hopeful that the Senate will make him available in case his presence is needed for any legal matters currently being pursued— in the same way that the NBI honored the protective custody order.

‘If you recall, our senators said that Senator Bato is under (Senate protective custody), right? And that is our consideration in not pursuing the enforcement of the arrest warrant,” said Matibag.

“And I also made a statement before that in the event that the attendance of Senator Bato is required in any court, it is their (Senate) responsibility to present Senator Bato,” he stressed.