Senator Ronald 'Bato' dela Rosa is wanted for his alleged role as the chief enforcer of former President Duterte's deadly war on drugs.
Posted on May 15, 2026
The Philippines has agreed to cooperate with a request by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to detain a prominent politician who evaded arrest earlier this week when he fled the Senate building despite the military's efforts to arrest him and reports of gunshots.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said Friday that Manila had received the court's arrest warrant for Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the country's former national police chief, and considers it valid.
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The ICC on Monday opened the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, 64, on charges of crimes against humanity. The former police chief was instrumental in leading former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, in which thousands of people were subjected to extrajudicial killings.
“We will definitely submit to the ICC's request,” Vida told reporters, noting that authorities are waiting for the Philippine Supreme Court to rule on the senator's petition against its legality.
Senate Shooting
News of the impending ICC order in November had caused Dela Rosa to disappear from public life. However, it came to light on Monday, when he intended to cast the deciding vote in a leadership race that would have handed power to a Duterte ally.
Finding law enforcement officers waiting for him, the former police chief, who denied any involvement in the murders, which took place between 2016 and 2019, fortified himself in the Senate building.
Two days later, the Senate was rocked by more than a dozen gunshots as armed soldiers climbed the steps of the legislative building to try to arrest him.
It was unclear who fired the shot, but on Thursday the Senate president confirmed that Dela Rosa was no longer in the building.
With the senator's whereabouts unknown, Vida warned that any attempt to help Dela Rosa leave the country would be treated as a “mockery of justice.”
Border officials have been told that “if Senator Bato Dela Rosa attempted to leave the country, an arrest would be made,” the secretary added.
Drug war crimes
Dela Rosa faces similar charges to Duterte, who has been in ICC custody in The Hague since March 2025.
From 2016 to 2019, the former president's “war on drugs” killed between 12,000 and 30,000 people, the ICC estimates.
The fugitive senator is named as one of the eight co-authors of the case and is accused of being Duterte's main enforcer.
In an interview broadcast Thursday, Dela Rosa pledged to “exhaust all available resources” to block his transfer to the ICC.
