Philippines top court rejects bid to block arrest of senator wanted by ICC

The Philippine Supreme Court has refused to block the arrest of a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

Senator ⁠Ronald dela Rosa, whose whereabouts are ⁠unknown, is wanted by the court in The Hague for his role in the country’s “war on drugs” during Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016-2022 presidency.

He has denied involvement in illegal killings.

“For now, we can say that the warrant of arrest is valid against Senator Bato dela Rosa,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s spokeswoman Claire Castro told reporters on Wednesday.

Philippine ⁠authorities last week confirmed they were seeking to arrest dela Rosa, who had argued in a petition to the court that law enforcement had no legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by a foreign ‌court.

The interim ruling on Wednesday clears the way for the potential arrest of the senator, the latest turn in a dramatic story that has gripped the Philippines since early last week.

Dela Rosa emerged from six months of hiding last week and took refuge at the Senate for several days before fleeing in the early hours of Thursday after a shooting incident between government agents and Senate security personnel that sent senators rushing for cover in their offices.

Dela Rosa’s lawyer said in a statement they will exhaust all legal remedies, including filing a motion for reconsideration: “Today’s resolution is not a judgment on the merits. ‌It is not a final ruling on the legality of enforcing an ICC process within Philippine territory.”

Castro said the government will leave it to the Department of Justice to interpret the Supreme Court’s ruling. The court said that while the restraining order had been denied, other ‌issues in the senator’s petition had yet to be addressed. Dela Rosa had argued the ICC warrant could not be enforced in the Philippines without a corresponding warrant from a local court.

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said last Friday that authorities will “definitely” seek to arrest dela Rosa and execute the ICC warrant.

Dela ⁠Rosa, who at the time was chief of the National Police, was Duterte’s top enforcer in a bloody crackdown during which thousands of alleged drug dealers were shot dead in police operations. At the peak of the campaign, killings of drug users spiked dramatically as ⁠police blamed them on vigilantes and turf wars.

The ICC estimated that 12,000 to 30,000 people were killed from 2016 to 2019 in Duterte’s “war on drugs”.

Duterte is also accused of crimes against humanity and has been held in ICC custody in The Hague since March 2025. He maintains his innocence.