Bato dela Rosa under Senate custody as ICC arrest looms

MANILA, Philippines, May 12 ------ Things came to a head when agents of the National Bureau of Investigation tried to arrest Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at the Senate on Monday over his alleged role in the drug war before he and other senators voted to oust Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

After viewing the Senate’s security camera footage of the NBI agents chasing Dela Rosa to the Session Hall, the senators last night agreed to put him under the chamber’s protective custody, and hold the NBI agents in contempt. Before the session began, a livid Dela Rosa strode into the packed plenary hall and lashed out at the Senate sergeant-at-arms for failing to protect him from the NBI agents, who reportedly came to serve a warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, along with former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Dela Rosa, 64, claimed he suffered a cut in one hand after the NBI agents tried to block him, but he managed to “wrestle” his way inside the Senate building. He showed up on Monday after six months of absence. “I am sure Trillanes is involved, Mr. President. He’s here,” Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief and one of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “co-perpetrators” in his crimes against humanity case in the ICC for the thousands killed in the drug war, later said on the floor after the vote to replace Sotto with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was carried.

ICC ‘warrant’

Trillanes showed reporters a “copy” of the ICC warrant for Dela Rosa, which he said was issued in November last year and was transmitted to the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) after the senator resurfaced on Monday. The ICC confirmed the authenticity of the warrant for Dela Rosa, without making any reference to Trillanes or the NBI. “The International Criminal Court confirms that the document published by national authorities of the Republic of the Philippines and circulated in [the] media is indeed a formal ICC document,” the ICC said in a message to reporters.

According to the ICC, the warrant was issued confidentially and under seal by the Pre-Trial Chamber I on Nov. 6, 2025. “We won’t let him get out anymore,” said Trillanes, who claimed he joined the NBI arresting team in response to Dela Rosa’s challenge. In the end, the Senate agreed to place Dela Rosa under its protective custody after Sen. Rodante Marcoleta made such a motion “until he is able to get all and exhaust all legal remedies to protect himself and until this institution is able to do just the same.” The body also agreed to hold the NBI agents in contempt and keep them under its custody. The Senate building was placed on full lockdown following their attempt to arrest Dela Rosa.

Source: inquirer.net