Ombudsman: Padilla ‘ignores’ summons on raps over Dela Rosa ‘escape’

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Robin Padilla has “ignored” the summons of the Office of the Ombudsman to respond to the complaint filed against him over alleged assistance in Senator Bato Dela Rosa’s “escape.”

On June 23, Assistant Ombudsman Moreno Generoso asked Padilla and his fellow respondents Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and dismissed Senate sergeant-at-arms Ma O. Aplasca “within a non-extendible period of 15 days” in a June 3 complaint filed by Tindig Pilipinas.

READ: Cayetano, Padilla ordered to respond to obstruction of justice raps

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Since the deadline, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday said Padilla “has not said anything about the cases and the summons given to him.”

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“Deadline has passed. He chooses to ignore the Ombudsman, then so be it,” Remulla said in a press conference.

“Well, we will decide, the resolution will be done without his counter-affidavit. That’s his choice.

So far, Cayetano has filed his counter-affidavit on the Tindig Pilipinas complaint on Wednesday. As for its contents, Remulla said he has not read the senator’s counter-affidavit.

“I haven’t read it. I do not micromanage the cases here,” he said when asked about Cayetano’s complaints.

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On the other hand, Remulla said Aplasca asked for a deadline extension which the anti-graft body has granted.

READ: CIDG: Padilla helped Dela Rosa escape, liable for ‘obstruction’

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On May 11, armed with the International Criminal Court warrant, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents tried to arrest Dela Rosa when he surfaced in the Senate after hiding for more than six months.

But the senator managed to elude them and get “protective custody” from the chamber, which was granted by Cayetano.

On May 13, the Senate standoff culminated in a shooting incident between Office of sergeant-at-arms personnel and NBI agents at GSIS Complex.

After the tension prompted by the shooting incident, Dela Rosa went back into hiding after leaving the chamber’s premises with Padilla aboard the latter’s vehicle in the early hours of May 14.

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The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has officially concluded that  Dela Rosa’s transport to Padilla was not a “mere hitch ride” but “a highly coordinated, preplanned logistical maneuver specifically executed to avoid detection while escaping the Senate premises.” /jpv