Senator Ronald \u201cBato\u201d Dela Rosa, a key figure in former President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s so-called \u201cwar on drugs,\u201d is now a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Philippine authorities.<\/p>\n
Recap: What Happened in the Senate?<\/em><\/p>\n After six months in hiding to avoid<\/a> an ICC arrest warrant, Dela Rosa appeared<\/a> at the Senate on May 11, 2026, where he cast a decisive vote that helped elect his ally, Alan Peter Cayetano, as Senate president.<\/p>\n Following a shooting incident that occurred<\/a> at the Senate on May 13, 2026, Dela Rosa disappeared again, reportedly with assistance from Senator Robin Padilla. Security footage captured<\/a> National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents pursuing Dela Rosa; in the early hours of May 14, Dela Rosa left<\/a> the Senate complex unnoticed.<\/p>\n Why is Dela Rosa being charged?<\/em><\/p>\n The ICC unsealed<\/a> an arrest warrant for Dela Rosa on May 11, 2026, citing his alleged role as an \u201cindirect co-perpetrator\u201d in the deaths of at least 32 people between 2016 and 2018 during Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s anti-drug campaign.<\/p>\n As former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and later as a senator, Dela Rosa is accused<\/a> of participating in a coordinated plan to target suspected criminals, a campaign that resulted in thousands of deaths.<\/p>\n Dela Rosa filed<\/a> a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) in November 2025 seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the issuance of the ICC warrant. The court, however, denied<\/a> his request, handing down a 9-5-1 decision on May 20, 2026.<\/p>\n Six of the nine SC justices who refused Dela Rosa\u2019s request were appointed<\/a> by Duterte.<\/p>\n Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa criticized<\/a> the idea of the SC protecting a government official accused of mass murder and facing charges before an international court for serious legal violations.<\/p>\n Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh rejected<\/a> the argument that only local warrants are valid, stating that the ICC is not a foreign entity intruding on Philippine soil, but a legitimate international tribunal established by treaty to prosecute major crimes and that depends on the cooperation of states.<\/p>\n ICC warrant moves forward<\/em><\/p>\n Initially, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and executive agencies delayed<\/a> action on executing the ICC arrest warrant, stating they would wait for the SC decision. Following the rejection of the TRO, the DOJ instructed<\/a> the PNP and the NBI to enforce the ICC warrant for Dela Rosa.<\/p>\n While the Rodrigo Duterte administration rejected the ICC\u2019s authority, the current administration acknowledged<\/a> the legal basis for cooperation, citing Republic Act 9851. This law permits<\/a> the surrender of suspects to the international tribunal even after the Philippines\u2019 withdrawal from the Rome Statute.<\/p>\n Dela Rosa is still at large, with authorities tracking<\/a> his movements and prepared to intervene if he tries to exit the country. Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla said<\/a> his department is considering offering a reward for his capture.<\/p>\n The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the PNP had filed<\/a> an obstruction of justice complaint against Senator Robin Padilla, alleging he orchestrated Dela Rosa\u2019s escape from the Senate. Padilla\u2019s actions were allegedly part of a \u201chighly coordinated, pre-planned logistical maneuver\u201d intended<\/a> to obstruct law enforcement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Emmalyn L. Kotte<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senator Ronald \u201cBato\u201d Dela Rosa, a key figure in former President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s so-called \u201cwar on drugs,\u201d is now a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Philippine authorities. Recap: What Happened in the Senate? After six months in hiding to avoid an ICC arrest warrant, Dela Rosa appeared at the Senate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":13255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,73,58,59,62,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-war-on-drugs-en","category-aktuelles-en","category-human-rights-news","category-internal-affairs","category-international-institutions","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13352"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13440,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13352\/revisions\/13440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}