MANILA, May 17 — The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal.

The International Criminal Court last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “co-perpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder”.

Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him.

“By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of the law,” the government’s chief lawyer, Solicitor-General Darlene Berberabe, said in a filing that asked the court to dismiss Dela Rosa’s petition.

“Until he submits himself to lawful authorities, he must be deemed a fugitive from justice and should not be allowed to seek any relief from the courts,” said the document, dated May 16 but only made available to the media on Sunday.

Dela Rosa’s current whereabouts were unknown after he discreetly left the Senate building on Thursday.

The justice department said Friday the ICC warrant would only be served once the Supreme Court resolves Dela Rosa’s Supreme Court petition – unless he tried to flee abroad in which case he would be detained.

The court made no immediate comment.

Dela Rosa has said the ICC warrant was illegal since the Philippines pulled out in 2019 from the treaty that created the tribunal.

Berberabe argued that withdrawal from the treaty “does not relieve a state party from cooperating in proceedings already initiated before the ICC”.

The ICC prosecutor launched an examination of the Philippine drug crackdown in 2018.

The bloody campaign, launched by Duterte after being elected president in 2016, left thousands dead, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics peddlers, according to human rights monitors.

Duterte was arrested in March last year, flown to the Netherlands on the same day, and is detained in The Hague awaiting trial.

Dela Rosa served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018.

After retirement, he was elected to the Senate in 2019 and retained his seat in last year’s midterm elections. — AFP

MANILA, May 15 — Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa called on the public to step in to prevent law enforcement agents from handing him over to the International Criminal Court ‌as the sound of gunfire rattled through the Senate building on Wednesday evening. Dela Rosa stands accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity related to the war on drugs he oversaw while serving as police chief under then President Rodrigo Duterte. Dela Rosa, 64, has denied involvement in illegal killings.

Duterte, ‌in office from 2016 to 2022, was himself arrested and taken to The Hague in March 2025 on a warrant linking him to murders committed during the bloody campaign, in which thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed. He also maintains his innocence.

What was dela Rosa’s role in the war on drugs?

When Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency in June 2016, he appointed dela Rosa, his former police chief in Davao City, as head of the Philippine National Police, a post he held for 21 months. Duterte gave him broad authority to replicate Davao’s crime-fighting model nationwide.

“He is leaving everything up to me,” dela Rosa, popularly known as “Bato” or “Rock”, told Reuters at the time.

On his first day as PNP chief, dela Rosa issued a directive launching the nationwide anti-illegal drugs crackdown to fulfil Duterte’s campaign promise.

The programme, called Project Double Barrel, was patterned after Davao City’s policing strategy and aimed at the “neutralisation of illegal ‌drug personalities nationwide”.

Its rollout was followed by a sharp rise in killings. Police reported more than 2,000 deaths between Duterte’s inauguration on ⁠June 30 and the end of that year, most described ⁠as occurring during shootouts.

Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the chief enforcer of former President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly ‘war on drugs,’ reacts before the start of a plenary session at the Senate in Pasay City, Metro Manila May 12, 2026. — Reuters pic

What were dela Rosa’s pronouncements as police chief?

Dela Rosa repeatedly used violent ⁠rhetoric while leading the Philippine National Police during ⁠the drug war.

Some of these ⁠statements were later cited in a court document filed with the International Criminal Court outlining the charges prosecutors want to bring to former President Duterte.

Dela Rosa publicly vowed to “crush” drug lords and warned of “killings in the name of drugs”.

He promised to “immediately” implement a scaled-up version of the ⁠Davao model, declaring: “If someone fights back, they’ll die. If nobody fights back, we’ll make them fight back. Produce blood. Instil fear.”

A month after his appointment, in a speech to self-confessed drug addicts, dela Rosa told the crowd to kill drug lords and burn their houses for causing them to become addicted to shabu, a slang term for methamphetamine.

Drugs war death toll

By the time Duterte left office in 2022, the drug war’s official toll had at least tripled. Police said 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations.

The Philippine government ⁠has officially acknowledged 6,248 deaths due to the anti-drug campaign.

But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with thousands of urban and poor drug users, many placed on official “watch lists”, killed in mysterious circumstances.

Both Duterte and ⁠dela Rosa were unapologetic in their defence of the brutal campaign, insisting police were only told to kill in self-defence.

Philippine Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, the chief enforcer of former president Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, attends a session at the Senate, which holds him under protective custody amid an International Criminal Court warrant, in Pasay City, Metro Manila May 12, 2026. — Reuters pic

Dela Rosa’s political career

After leaving ⁠the police force, ⁠dela Rosa was appointed director general of the Bureau of Corrections, before joining the senatorial race in the 2019 national elections. He won and placed fifth in the polls, garnering more than 19 million votes.

He ran and won a second senatorial term in May 2025.

Dela Rosa was seen attending a ‌Senate session on Monday for the first time since disappearing from public view in November as he cast a decisive vote in a Senate leadership shakeup that will play a role in an impending impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of Rodrigo Duterte. — Reuters

MANILA, May 15 — The Philippines vowed today to stop the chief enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war from fleeing the country to evade an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.

Fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa barely escaped arrest on Monday when he sought refuge in the Senate building, but left unannounced for an unknown location on Thursday.

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida confirmed Manila has received the arrest warrant for Dela Rosa from the ICC, but was waiting for the Philippine Supreme Court to resolve the senator’s petition challenging its legality.

“The Department of Justice will treat any attempt of Senator Bato Dela Rosa to leave the country as a mockery of justice,” Vida told a news conference.

Law enforcers and border officials were instructed “that if Senator Bato Dela Rosa would try to leave the country, that the appropriate arrest should be made”.

The ICC on Monday unsealed an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, 64, accusing him along with Duterte and other “co-perpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder”.

Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano prevented government agents from arresting his political ally Dela Rosa on Monday, giving hime refuge in the building.

Dela Rosa served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018 during the early phase of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign and was elected to two successive six-year terms in the Senate in 2019 after retiring from the force.

The crackdown left thousands dead, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics peddlers, according to human rights monitors.

Dela Rosa has asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from enforcing the ICC arrest warrant and expressing preference to stand trial in a Philippine court if he were charged.

His boss Duterte was arrested in March last year, flown to the Netherlands on the same day, and is detained in The Hague awaiting trial. — AFP

MANILA, May 14 — Police said Thursday they detained a person in connection with gunfire the previous night inside the Philippine senate, where a lawmaker wanted by the International Criminal Court took refuge.

The shooting did not result in any casualties and came as the one-time enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug crackdown sheltered at the legislature.

It was not immediately clear how many suspects were involved in the shooting, with Philippine authorities saying investigation was ongoing.

“He (suspect) was arrested at the area of the incident, at the second floor of the senate building,” Philippine police spokesman Brigadier-General Randulf Tuano told reporters.

Police seized live ammunition from the man, who was being tested for gunshot residue.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla had said senate security fired “warning shots” at several unknown armed men who had gone up the senate stairway.

The gunmen later fired into the air and left, he added, while senators, including the fugitive Dela Rosa, barricaded themselves inside their offices.

Senator Ronald Dela Rosa took refuge in the senate aiming to avoid arrest on a warrant from the ICC for the crime against humanity of murder.

Dela Rosa, known as “Bato”, served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018 during the early phase of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.

The crackdown left thousands dead, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics peddlers, according to human rights monitors.

His boss Duterte was arrested in March last year, flown to the Netherlands on the same day, and is detained in The Hague awaiting trial. — AFP

MANILA, May 14 — The Philippines president called an ‌emergency meeting of top officials on Thursday amid widening political tensions, a day after gunfire rang out at ​the Senate where a lawmaker wanted by the International Criminal Court has been holed up fearing his arrest.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the former national police chief and chief enforcer of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs”, is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused ‌of.

Duterte is set to become the first former Asian head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Gunshots were heard late on Wednesday ​inside the Senate building and people inside scrambled for cover, hours after dela Rosa, better known as “Bato” or “Rock”, appealed on social media for supporters to mobilise, saying law enforcement agents were coming to take him from the legislature, where he had taken refuge.

The incident sparked chaos and confusion, with a heavy presence of police and armed guards at the Senate, protests outside and more than a dozen shots fired ​just moments after marines were called in to bolster security.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr was meeting government and security chiefs on Thursday, while police spokesperson Randulf Tuano said one person had been detained and investigations were underway, with bullet casings, assault rifle magazines and other items recovered.

“The person has provided names, but these still need confirmation,” Tuano told DZBB radio.

Dela Rosa whereabouts unclear

It was unclear who fired the shots, or if dela Rosa was still in the Senate on Thursday. Entering the heavily guarded building, his lawyer Jimmy Bondoc, said he spoke to him during the night and believed he was inside.

“As his lawyer, I asked him if you have ‌plans to leave, he said none,” Bondoc told reporters.

Marcos and government agencies have insisted no order was issued to arrest dela Rosa, with no announcements on Thursday on the ⁠identity of individuals who officials said tried to force their way into the building.

In an ⁠interview with DZBB aired early on Thursday, dela Rosa said he will “exhaust all available remedies” to block his transfer to ⁠the ICC and having learned about conditions Duterte was ⁠being held under, he was no longer ⁠willing to fight his case in The Hague.

It was unclear when the interview was conducted. Dela Rosa has denied involvement in illegal killings.

“Yes, things changed. It turns out it is not that easy to visit him,” he said of Duterte. “If we were co-detainees there’s no assurance we would be placed in the same cell or even in the same facility.”

Marcos ⁠vowed late on Wednesday to get to the bottom of the incident, as political tensions mounted over dela Rosa and Monday’s impeachment of the former president’s daughter Vice President Sara Duterte.

A protester (right) holds a placard calling to ‘throw’ Philippine Senator ‘Bato’ Ronald dela Rosa to the International Criminal Court, in front of the Senate in Manila on May 13, 2026. — AFP pic

‘Extraordinary rendition’

Sara Duterte, who is in The Hague visiting her father, was the running mate of Marcos, but their alliance broke down and she is now fighting for her political survival, facing an impeachment trial in the Senate that could derail her run for the next presidency in 2028.

“What we are seeing now is the administration using all government resources to demolish political opposition or individuals who do not follow, agree with, or support (Marcos),” she said in comments shared by her office.

She said she had not ⁠spoken with dela Rosa since before the gunfire incident and said he was about to be the subject of extraordinary rendition, likening it to what she called her father’s illegal abduction and transfer to the ICC last year.

“That is how the world saw it then. And that is also ⁠what they are trying to do now to Senator Bato dela Rosa,” she said.

The Hague-based court unsealed an arrest warrant on Monday for dela Rosa, dated November, and he ⁠has filed an emergency appeal ⁠with the Supreme Court to block any transfer to the ICC, arguing it no longer has jurisdiction in the Philippines after the country withdrew from the court in 2018.

The court says it can ​investigate crimes committed prior to a country’s withdrawal.

Dela Rosa was Duterte’s top lieutenant, overseeing a fierce crackdown during ​which thousands of alleged drug dealers were slain, with rights groups accusing police of systematic ‌murders and cover-ups.

Police reject that and say the more than 6,000 killed in Project Double Barrel were all ​armed and had resisted arrest.

Activists say the real death ​toll may never be known, with users and small-time peddlers gunned down daily in mysterious slumland killings that police blamed on vigilantes and turf wars.  — Reuters

MANILA, May 13 — Volleys of gunshots were heard ‌at the Philippine Senate today and people were told to run for cover, Reuters witnesses heard, as chaos mounted in anticipation of an attempt to arrest ‌a top senator wanted by the International Criminal Court.

It was unclear what was happening or who fired the shots. More than 10 military personnel in camouflage fatigues had earlier arrived at the Senate building, some carrying assault rifles, Reuters journalists saw.

It was not immediately clear why troops were there and military officials could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear if other security personnel were inside the building.

It came as Ronald dela Rosa, the chief enforcer in former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war ‌on drugs”, said on Facebook his arrest was imminent and urged people ⁠to mobilise to prevent his handover to ⁠the ICC. 

Dela Rosa, who has taken refuge ⁠in his legislative office since Monday, ⁠called on ⁠the public to turn out and block his arrest, saying that law enforcement agents were on the way following the ICC’s unsealing of an arrest ⁠warrant. 

The warrant, dated November and made public on Monday, seeks the arrest of the former police chief on charges of crimes against humanity, the same crimes 81-year-old Duterte is accused of as he awaits trial in The Hague following his arrest last year.

“I am appealing to ⁠you, I hope you can help me. Do not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague,” dela Rosa said in a ⁠video posted on Facebook from his Senate office.

Dela Rosa, 64, was Duterte’s ⁠top lieutenant ⁠overseeing a fierce crackdown during which thousands of alleged drug dealers were slain, with human rights groups accusing police of systematic murders and cover-ups.

Police reject the allegations ‌and say the more than 6,000 killed in anti-drugs operations were all armed and had resisted arrest. — Reuters