The netizen who posted the picture of the fugitive senator at a memorial park in Davao del Sur clarified that it was taken three years ago
A photo that seemed to show fugitive Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa casually posing with visitors at a cemetery in Digos City went viral during the Undas break, but by Monday, November 2, 2026, the man who posted it had set the record straight: the picture is three years old.
The image shows Dela Rosa in a white button-down shirt, shorts, slippers and a cap, smiling beside a family at Digos Memorial Park in Davao del Sur, his home province.
“Ronald Bato Dela Rosa ka gwapo! is in Digos Memorial Park,” the uploader, identified as Facebook user Rey Anthony Malig-on, wrote in his caption.
Because the post spread while families were visiting their departed loved ones for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, many netizens took it as proof that the senator had resurfaced. Some wondered aloud how a man with a P50-million bounty on his head could stroll around a public cemetery in plain sight.
“Yung wanted na senador na may P50M na reward money ay nakakapaglakad lakad lang nitong Undas na parang wala lang,” one user on X wrote, adding that there even appeared to be police officers in the background.
The excitement died down after Malig-on explained in the comments of a shared post that the photo was taken three years ago, long before the senator went into hiding.
Dela Rosa has not been seen in public since mid-May, when he slipped out of the Senate days after an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court was made public. The ICC accuses him of crimes against humanity linked to the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Authorities stepped up their search after the one-week surrender ultimatum set by the Philippine National Police lapsed last week, launching an all-out manhunt for the former PNP chief. The Department of the Interior and Local Government has tagged him “armed and dangerous.”
It is not the first old photo of the senator to fool social media. Back in May, actress Andrea del Rosario drew attention after reposting a picture with Dela Rosa, which she later said was also taken years earlier.
For now, his whereabouts remain unknown, and netizens are reminded to check the date of a photo before sharing it as a “sighting.”