Dela Rosa holes up in Senate as ICC confirms arrest warrant

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MANILA, Philippines (3rd update: 10:10 p.m.) — The International Criminal Court confirmed that the arrest warrant for Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa circulating in media is a formal ICC document issued confidentially under seal on Nov. 6, 2025.

"The International Criminal Court confirms that the document published by national authorities of the Republic of the Philippines and circulated in media is indeed a formal ICC document. This arrest warrant against Mr Ronald Marapon Dela Rosa was issued confidentially, under seal, by Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC on 6 November 2025," the ICC said in a statement Monday evening, May 11.

"The ICC is currently in the process of unsealing the warrant of arrest. We will circulate to this group as soon as available," it added.

In the warrant, the ICC said Dela Rosa was allegedly liable as an indirect co-perpetrator for crimes committed between July 2, 2016, and the end of April 2018, during which no fewer than 32 people were killed.

The existence of the warrant was first revealed on Nov. 8, 2025 by then-Justice secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who now serves as ombudsman.

The development prompted Dela Rosa to go into hiding and skip Senate hearings, leading the chamber to consider withholding his salary over his absences.

He reappeared at a plenary session on Monday, where he joined the vote to oust Tito Sotto and install Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. Dela Rosa then took refuge in Senate after he was chased through the halls of the building by members of the National Bureau of Investigation.

READ: Senate protects Dela Rosa, cites pursuers in contempt after building chase

The incident occured while the House of Representatives was voting to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, setting up a potential Senate trial under Cayetano's new leadership. Dela Rosa was police chief to Duterte's father, Rodrigo Duterte, when he was president. 

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV met with reporters shortly after the chase and showed what he said was an ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa. It was Trillanes who lodged the complaint against Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators, including Dela Rosa.

By Monday evening, the court said it was in the process of unsealing the warrant, which was later made public.

Dela Rosa, meanwhile, took to Facebook to ask supporters for help during a livestream hosted by Sen. Robin Padilla, another Duterte ally.

"They want to fly me to The Hague, to be surrendered there. So please support me," Dela Rosa said.

"I became Philippine National Police chief to work, then this is what they will do to me?" he added.

What the warrant says 

The warrant identifies no fewer than 32 specific killings for which the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber found reasonable grounds to hold Dela Rosa responsible.

The figure refers only to the incidents on which the warrant is based and is not presented in the document as the full toll of the anti-drug campaign during his time as PNP chief.

The chamber said the killings formed part of a "widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population" carried out under a state policy to end criminality "by all means, including by killing alleged criminals." The victims, according to the warrant, were alleged thieves and individuals identified by the authorities as being involved in drug-related activities.

The chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Dela Rosa joined senior government officials and members of the police force in a "common plan" to kill alleged criminals, first while he was police chief in Davao City, and later on a nationwide scale after he was appointed PNP chief.

Dela Rosa and his co-perpetrators "agreed to 'neutralise' alleged criminals in the Philippines... through violent crimes including murder," the warrant stated. The chamber said the term neutralize "was used and understood by those involved in the operations to mean to 'kill.'"

The chamber identified four acts by Dela Rosa it described as essential contributions to the crimes:

• his role in implementing the "Tokhang" model of police operations in Davao and later nationally;
• his issuance of Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016, the police anti-illegal drugs campaign plan, which the chamber said reinforced the message that the campaign "entailed the commission of crimes, including unlawful killings";
• his public statements authorising, condoning and promoting the killing of alleged criminals; and
• his appointment and transfer of officers into strategic positions to advance the plan.

The chamber also ordered his arrest rather than issuing a summons, finding "no reasonable expectation that he would cooperate" and citing his public threats against a prosecution investigator and his labelling of those cooperating with the ICC as "traitors."

After Duterte's arrest

The arrest of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte in March 2025 followed petitions before the Supreme Court challenging his arrest and the government's cooperation with Interpol.

On the first petition filed, Dela Rosa is one of the petitioners along with Duterte.

On May 11, 2026, Dela Rosa, in the same petition, sought judicial protection from the Supreme Court against a possible arrest. 

Duterte — who had appointed Dela Rosa as chief of the PNP — was turned over to the ICC after arriving from Hong Kong. 

He was taken into custody for alleged crimes against humanity, such as murder, in connection with the thousands of deaths attributed to his administration’s anti-drug campaign.

As PNP chief, Dela Rosa spearheaded Oplan Tokhang, the main initiative of Duterte’s war on drugs.

Human rights organizations claim that the campaign’s death toll may have reached up to 30,000. — with a report from Agence France Presse