The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) dedicated a team to track down Senator Ronald Dela Rosa after the Department of Justice ordered his arrest based on the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"There is an operation being done there is a dedicated team tracking him to locate him, so the NBI is doing something," NBI Director Melvin Matibag told reporters in a press briefing on Friday.

"We don't have a timeline because if we see him today we will arrest him... but we are right now looking for him on how he left the Senate, we are tracking him," he added.

Dela Rosa suddenly appeared at the Senate on May 11 after being absent since November due to an ICC arrest warrant. The NBI tied to serve the warrant but the Senate placed Dela Rosa under its protection.

After a shooting incident inside the Senate last May 13, Dela Rosa left the premises at 2:30 pm on May 14. He has not been seen since.

Once arrested, Matibag said Dela Rosa will be turned over to the DOJ for proper disposition.

"Once the law enforcement got hold of Senator Bato, if he is arrested our next step is we will turn over it to the Department of Justice and from there the Department of Justice will be the one to take care of Senator Bato," he said.

In a previous interview, Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida did not say what is going to happen to Dela Rosa once he is arrested but he noted that their "ultimate objective is to bring him to the ICC."

Matibag cannot confirm if Dela Rosa is still in the country but he noted that there is no report from the Bureau of Immigration that he has left the Philippines.

"I have to appeal to Senator Bato if he is watching right now it is much better if he will surrender, because he only has two options: to surrender or get arrested," he said.

"To the public who have knowledge that can help our law enforcement. I urge you to help the law enforcement to locate Senator Dela Rosa," he added. Robina Asido/PHS