The chief enforcer of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly “war on drugs” campaign has taken refuge in the country’s parliament after the International Criminal Court (ICC) unsealed a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of crimes against humanity.
In a statement yesterday, The Hague-based court confirmed that it had issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on November 6, which has since been held under seal.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I “found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Dela Rosa is allegedly criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator… for the crime against humanity of murder,” the court said.
Just hours before the ICC confirmed the warrant, Dela Rosa fled into the Senate building, with officers from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in hot pursuit, and locked himself in his office. Former Senator Antonio Trillanes, who has led multiple investigations into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, later told reporters that the NBI personnel were attempting to enforce an ICC warrant.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of Duterte who was appointed to the position just hours before the stand-off over Dela Rosa’s arrest, later told the press that the 64-year-old had been placed under the Senate’s protection, Inquirer.net reported.
“We will allow an arrest under the condition that it is a Philippine court,” Cayetano said.
According to Reuters, the former national police chief attended a Senate session yesterday for the first time since disappearing from public view in November, around the same time that the ICC confirmed it first issued the warrant for his arrest.
The warrant relates to Dela Rosa’s role in the anti-drug campaign, which prosecutors say killed tens of thousands of suspected drug dealers during Duterte’s six years in office (2016-2022). Many were reportedly little more than poor drug users, or innocents caught in the crossfire. Estimates of the number killed during the anti-narcotics campaign range from an official estimate of around 6,000 to as many as 30,000.
Duterte was arrested in March 2025 and extradited to the ICC, where he faces trial after a pre-trial panel last month ruled that there were “substantial grounds” to believe that the 81-year-old was guilty of crimes against humanity linked to his “war on drugs.”
As chief of the Philippine National Police from July 2016 to April 2018, Dela Rosa played a central role in the initial phase of the anti-drug campaign. According to the ICC statement, he is “alleged to have been involved in a common plan that lasted from approximately 1 November 2011 until 16 March 2019 to kill alleged criminals in the Philippines.”
For years prior, he worked in a number of law enforcement roles in Davao City, where Duterte was mayor for more than two decades, and helped enforce Duterte’s harsh anti-crime measures.
In February 2018, the ICC prosecutor announced that his office was opening a preliminary investigation into “drug war” killings, both during Duterte’s presidential term and during his tenure as mayor of Davao City. The court then authorized a full investigation in September 2021.
Initially, it was hard to see Duterte (or anyone else) ever ending up in the dock at the ICC. But things turned against Duterte after his relationship with his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., deteriorated during the course of 2024. After coming to office in 2022, Marcos initially called on the ICC to drop the case and asserted that it had no jurisdiction over the Philippines, but as his relationship with Duterte soured, he reconsidered his opposition to the court. When the ICC issued an arrest warrant in February 2025, he authorized police to execute it.
Since Duterte’s arrest, it has been widely expected that Dela Rosa would be next in the ICC’s sights. He has previously denied being involved in illegal killings, but disappeared from public view in November, presumably out of fear of arrest on an ICC warrant.
While the Philippine police say that they will not pursue Dela Rosa’s arrest for now, his flight into his Senate chambers could potentially set up a protracted Julian Assange-style stand-off.
From his Senate sanctuary, Inquirer.net reported that Dela Rosa broadcast a Facebook livestream in which he pleaded with the public for support.
“They want to fly me to The Hague, to be surrendered there. So please support me,” Dela Rosa told fellow Duterte loyalist Senator Robin Padilla during the livestream.
“I became Philippine National Police chief to work, then this is what they will do to me?”
