Donate

KWEBA ni BAROK

Alan Cayetano Wants Us to Stop Criticizing Bato — Because Apparently Accountability Now Constitutes Human Rights Abuse

Published by

Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

on

Alan Cayetano Wants Us to Stop Criticizing Bato — Because Apparently Accountability Now Constitutes Human Rights Abuse

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — December 3, 2025

IF THE Philippines ever opens a National Museum of Political Absurdity, Alan Peter Cayetano’s latest statement defending Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa deserves its own wing. Maybe even a hologram exhibit: press a button, and it plays Cayetano solemnly arguing that a senator who oversaw a bloody drug war now needs “assurance” that his rights will be protected.

You can’t make this stuff up.
You really can’t.
Not even if you fed a supercomputer nothing but senatorial press statements and pork-barrel receipts.

THE CAYETANO DOCTRINE OF RIGHTS (TM)

Rights are sacred — but only if you helped run a murderous anti-drug campaign and now feel sad because the ICC is asking questions.

Under Cayetano’s political philosophy, the moment a powerful man feels threatened — not actually threatened, just emotionally inconvenienced — the entire government must drop everything, cradle him like a wounded kitten, and assure him that no harm will come to him.

Never mind the 6,000–30,000 deaths of the drug war (depending on which set of inconvenient numbers you choose to ignore).
Never mind the mothers who never received “assurance of rights” when their sons were killed without warrants.
Never mind the poor communities where “due process” meant a chalk outline on the pavement.

Apparently, rights are a limited-edition luxury product, and politicians like Dela Rosa get the premium package with complimentary shielding from criticism.

Cayetano Discovers the Bill of Rights—But Only the VIP Edition

Let’s Review the Facts (Because Cayetano Clearly Didn’t)

• There is no confirmed ICC arrest warrant.

• There is no extradition order.

• There is no ongoing Philippine attempt to detain him.

• The only thing chasing Bato is… his own résumé.

But according to Cayetano, Dela Rosa has “no choice but to hide.”

Really?
No choice?
A sitting senator with a security detail, a national platform, millions in pork barrel allocations, and the unwavering loyalty of half the political class… has no choice but to skip work because of an unverified rumor?

If this is what bravery looks like under the Duterte movement, we should replace the Philippine eagle with a trembling quail.

THE BIG LIE: THAT BATO IS THE REAL VICTIM HERE

Cayetano keeps insisting that Bato’s “life and liberty” are in danger, which is strange, because:

  • He’s not being hunted.
  • He’s not being tried.
  • He’s not being interrogated.
  • He’s not even being asked to explain himself.

He is literally just being asked to come to work.

That’s it.
That’s the emergency.

Bato’s version of persecution is so laughably fragile that it makes a marshmallow look like reinforced concrete.

ALAN CAYETANO: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (ONLY FOR THE POLITICALLY BLESSED)

It is rich — RICH — to watch Alan Cayetano transform into an overnight Amnesty International volunteer the moment a powerful ally feels uncomfortable.

  • Where was this fire when poor Filipinos were killed in alleyways?
  • Where was this constitutional fervor when families begged for investigations?
  • Where was this “protect his rights” rhetoric when the PNP chalked up deaths as “nanlaban” faster than critics could ask for evidence?

Oh, right.
Those people don’t belong to Cayetano’s preferred class of “rights holders.”

In the Philippine political universe, it seems human rights function like VIP wristbands at a concert.
If you’re rich, connected, and part of the right clique, you get all-access.
If you’re poor and dead, sorry — you didn’t make the list.

THE SENATE IS NOT A WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM

Cayetano seems to think the Senate minority’s job is to provide emotional support to colleagues hiding from hypothetical legal trouble.

No, senator.
The Senate is not a safe house.
It is not a panic room.
It is not a trauma center for fragile strongmen.

It is a workplace — one that Bato has abandoned because the real world is finally catching up with him.

If every official who feared the ICC stopped showing up, the entire Duterte cabinet would vanish like Thanos snapped his fingers.

AND THEN THERE’S THIS INSULTINGLY BAD ARGUMENT:

“Instead of putting pressure on him and asking why he isn’t here, the real question is: Why is there no assurance that his rights will be protected?”

Here’s the answer:

Because there is absolutely nothing happening to him that implicates his rights.

  • He is not being arrested.
  • He is not being detained.
  • He is not being silenced.
  • He is not being interrogated.
  • He is not being harmed.
  • He is not even being criticized that harshly.

He is simply being asked:
Where the hell are you, senator?

And Cayetano acts like this is a full-fledged human rights crisis.

LET’S CALL THIS WHAT IT IS: IMPUNITY COSPLAY

This is all performative outrage designed to:

  • Shield Dela Rosa from accountability
  • Intimidate critics
  • Rewrite the drug war narrative
  • Preempt the moral reckoning that Cayetano knows is coming
  • Normalize the idea that powerful people should never be questioned

Cayetano is not defending rights.
He is defending the right to impunity, which in the Philippines is the most consistently protected right of all.

THE HARSH TRUTH (NO SATIRE NOW):

Alan Cayetano is wrong because:

  • Dela Rosa’s rights have not been violated in any way.
  • There is no “looming arrest.”
  • The only thing under threat is the political immunity that used to shield officials from global accountability.
  • And Cayetano is trying to smother public scrutiny before it gains momentum.

If Dela Rosa wants to prove he’s not afraid, he can do one simple, astonishing, revolutionary act:

  • Show up.
  • Sit down.
  • Do his job.
  • Answer questions.

Until then, no amount of Cayetano’s melodramatic rights-lawyer role-play can hide the truth:

This isn’t a rights issue. It’s a courage issue — and Bato is running out of both.

Source:

Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

Leave a comment

Hello,

I’m Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

Let’s connect

Join the fun!

Stay updated with our latest tutorials and ideas by joining our newsletter.

Recent posts