[3] A woman named Sonia Tulay reportedly left Rota in the convent at about two months old in November 1984.

[3][5] Mother Flora Zippo, an Italian missionary, assisted in finding people to adopt Rota.

[8] Rota also capped for the Italy U-20 Lega Pro team in the 2005 Trofeo Dossena, which lost to Sport Club Internacional in the final game.

[15] Rota received his first call up for the Philippines national football team in February 2014,[16] making his international debut in a friendly match against Malaysia on 1 March 2014.

He scored his first international goal in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup group stage match against Laos on 22 May 2014.

In August 2016 Rota suffered a serious ACL tear that would rule him out for the rest of the year, including the 2016 AFF Championship in which the Philippines were the host.