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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
May 13, 2026 | 3:11pm
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa — subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant — told a radio interviewer that former President Rodrigo Duterte "chose to be arrested" last year.
The claim is contradicted by Duterte's own words upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong, a tense 12-hour standoff at Villamor Air Base where he refused to go with authorities, and a Supreme Court petition that he co-filed with Dela Rosa to challenge the ICC arrest warrant against him.
In an interview on the radio program "Ted Failon and DJ Chacha" on Wednesday, May 13, Dela Rosa was asked to explain why he fled from agents of the National Bureau of Investigation earlier this week.
Radio broadcaster Ted Failon's question compared Dela Rosa's conduct on Monday to that of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whom the broadcaster described as appearing more "composed" during his arrest in March 2025.
Dela Rosa replied:
Iba naman si President Duterte. [...] I am just an ordinary person. Si Pangulong Duterte, ibang klaseng nilalang 'yun. He chose to be arrested. Gusto nya solohin yung problema. Hindi na kami idamay. Gusto nya sya lang ang mananagot sa lahat lahat. Just a commander na hinahanap natin.
Eh, ako naman ay ordinaryong tao lamang, at hindi ako... statesman statesman na ganyan. Statesman statesman tapos mahuli ka.. Tumakbo ka na. Wala akong balak maging Pangulong Duterte.
Rating: This is false.
The facts
Duterte refused arrest from the moment officials approached him aboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 907 at NAIA on the morning of March 11, 2025. Multiple news outlets covering the arrival reported that he told the arresting team: "You will just have to kill me."
Meanwhile, video clips posted from inside Villamor Air Base by his daughter Veronica "Kitty" Duterte showed him demanding to be shown the legal basis for his detention. "Apparently, I was brought here not of my own provision. It's somebody else's," the elder Duterte said in the clip.
Then-Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre, who led the arresting team, gave a detailed account to The Associated Press, in which he said Duterte "threatened a police general with lawsuits, refused to be fingerprinted and told law enforcers 'you have to kill me to bring me to The Hague.'"
Torre said the confrontation at the air base lasted approximately 12 hours, during which one of his officers was hospitalized after being struck on the head with a smartphone. A clip of that moment was provided to media by the Philippine National Police.
Duterte's legal counsel Salvador Medialdea also attempted to physically block officers from escorting the former president to the Gulfstream G550 jet bound for The Hague. Torre briefly handcuffed Medialdea for obstruction of justice and read him his Miranda rights.
Duterte's family, including Avanceña and Kitty Duterte, were also seen trying to keep police from escorting Duterte.
When Torre moved to detain a second Duterte lawyer, Martin Delgra III, Duterte agreed to board the coaster bound for the aircraft.
The plane took off from Villamor at 11:03 p.m.
Challenging the arrest. To recall, on the same day of Duterte's arrest, the Supreme Court also received a 94-page petition for certiorari and prohibition filed jointly by Duterte and Dela Rosa.
The petition asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order against the Philippine government's cooperation with the ICC and Interpol, to declare such cooperation unconstitutional, and to issue an injunction "perpetually restraining and prohibiting" any future cooperation with the ICC.
The Supreme Court denied the immediate TRO request the following day.
Why we fact-checked this
The ICC confirmed on Monday that it issued a warrant against Dela Rosa on Nov. 6, 2025, charging him as an indirect co-perpetrator in the same crimes against humanity case as Duterte.
Dela came out of hiding Monday to cast the 13th vote that elected Duterte ally Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.
Cayetano's first move was to place Dela Rosa under protective custody, and he has been holed up at the Senate premises since.
Dela Rosa has also publicly contradicted himself on whether he was prepared to be arrested and placed under ICC custody.
A day after Duterte was flown to The Hague, Dela Rosa told reporters in a statement sent through Viber that he was prepared to submit to authorities and would join Duterte at The Hague if a warrant was issued against him and "all legal remedies are exhausted."
“I am ready to join the old man hoping that they would allow me to take care of him," Dela Rosa said at the time.
