‘S*** really happens,’ says Bato after Boss Ironman accident

TUGUEGARAO CITY , Philippines –  Remember Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s infamous “s*** really happens” comment that had him vilified in the press last year?

Well, he said it again on Facebook. But this time, to describe his own accident that forced him out of the 2020 Boss Ironman motorcycle endurance challenge last Saturday in Cagayan province.

“S*** happens! And it really happened when I crashed along the wet and glossy asphalt road of Sanchez Mira, Cagayan Valley. I can no longer finish the 2020 Boss Ironman motorcycle challenge supposedly this afternoon (Saturday),” Dela Rosa said in his official Facebook account.

A little controversy has cropped up, though, as Maj. Stanley Banan, chief of the Sanchez Mira police, denied knowledge of the senator’s accident in his area of jurisdiction.

A resident of the town, who asked not to be identified by The STAR, said he saw Dela Rosa resting at the checkpoint of the Ironman challenge at a gasoline station moments before leaving the boundary of Sanchez Mira. 

The resident also said there was no asphalted portion of the highway in Sanchez Mira, but suggested that the senator might have been referring to the next town of Pamplona – particularly a strip of road in Barangay Bidduang overlaid with asphalt after flooding had destroyed it last November.

The Pamplona police also denied knowledge of the senator figuring in an accident in the town, but did not go as far as disputing his claim, which they only learned about through Facebook.

Police said there was also no reported visit by Dela Rosa at any of the hospitals in either town that day.

However, Dela Rosa’s Facebook post featured a picture of himself sporting a sling as proof of what seemed to be a fractured right arm.

Dela Rosa’s “s*** really happens” quote that earned him widespread criticism last year was in reference to the death of a young girl caught in the crossfire during an anti-narcotics operation.

Meanwhile, “s*** also happened” to another Boss Ironman contestant – Lt. Col. Heryl Bruno, chief of police in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija – when he collided with a tricycle near the public market in Barangay Baybayog, Alcala town, around 8 a.m.

Bruno was taken to a private hospital in this city while the tricycle driver, Marlon Duruin, 55, was unhurt, police said.

The Boss Ironman 2020 held last Saturday is a 1,200-kilometer motorcycle endurance challenge that ended in San Fernando City, Pampanga.