“First, they turned the Senate into a safe house for Bato, and then they conspired to allow him to escape instead of surrendering the suspect to law enforcement agencies.”
CEBU CITY – An International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, a sudden Senate power shift, more than a dozen gunfires, and the escape of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa have plunged the Philippine Senate into a political firestorm.
After the ICC publicly announced the official warrant of arrest against Dela Rosa for alleged crimes against humanity on May 11, CCTV footage showing Dela Rosa evading NBI agents flooded social media and became the subject of memes.
Dela Rosa was on his way to attend the Senate plenary session that day when purported NBI agents attempted to arrest him. In the footage, he fell on the stairs. On the Senate floor, he appeared visibly emotional as tensions escalated during the standoff with authorities.
Another footage shows him shouting and pointing at journalists saying “I’m a senator of the republic! Kung hindi ako papasok, hinahanap n’yo ako!”
Dela Rosa has not been attending the Senate sessions for almost half a year since November 11, 2025.
When he appeared that day, two things happened. Dela Rosa, being the 13th vote, installed Alan Peter Cayetano, a known Duterte ally, as the Senate president. Dela Rosa was then placed under “protective custody” over the ICC warrant.
Senate leadership change
The change in leadership also came into question as the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte progressed. The House of Representatives (HOR) voted to impeach Sara for the second time, with 255 lawmakers backing the articles of impeachment.
The complaint includes allegations of misuse of public funds, unexplained wealth, graft and corruption, and alleged threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House leaders.
On the night of May 13, the HOR transmitted the Articles of Impeachment. As Cayetano assumed the Senate presidency, this positioned him to preside over the impeachment court in a development widely seen as favorable to the Duterte camp.
Read: Will the Senate impeach VP Duterte?
On the same night, the Senate complex was placed on lockdown after more than 20 gunshots were reportedly fired within the premises. Authorities said that no casualties were reported, though employees, staff, and journalists on the ground were evacuated.
The day after (May 14), Dela Rosa reportedly fled alongside Sen. Robin Padilla.
Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan wrote a resolution for Dela Rosa to surrender to the ICC and face the alleged crimes against humanity. This was signed by five senators consisting of him, Risa Hontiveros, Tito Sotto, Bam Aquino, and Ping Lacson.
For the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the change in senate leadership “clearly colluded with Bato to distract public attention and prevent him from being arrested and delivered to the ICC for custody.”
“First, they turned the Senate into a safe house for Bato, and then they conspired to allow him to escape instead of surrendering the suspect to law enforcement agencies,” Bayan said.
Sanctuary of criminals?
The unsealed ICC arrest alleged Dela Rosa and several others “have been involved in a common plan that lasted from approximately 1 November 2011 until 16 March 2019 to kill alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production)” during which no less than 32 persons were killed.
The warrant stems from alleged killings linked to the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign. Although former president Rodrigo Duterte unilaterally withdrew from the Rome Statute on March 17, 2019, the ICC Appeals Chamber ruled that the ICC retains jurisdiction over crimes allegedly committed while the country was still a member-state.
Cayetano denied the enforceability of the ICC warrant even though he was one of the 17 senators who voted for the Philippines to join the ICC on August 23, 2011.
“As to the temporal jurisdiction, the Chamber recalls, that [w]hile the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Statute took effect on 17 March 2019, the Court retains jurisdiction with respect to alleged crimes that occurred on the territory of the Philippines while it was a State Party, from 1 November 2011 up to and including 16 March 2019,” the ICC warrant read.
For human rights lawyer and academic Tony La Viña “[a] legislative chamber cannot become a criminal sanctuary,” he wrote on Facebook.
He said that this spectacle is an obstruction of justice in the Senate. He argued that political institutions appeared to have deliberately shielded Dela Rosa from lawful arrest.
La Viña stressed that Marcos, Jr.’s enforcement of the ICC warrant was well within his power. “He chose inaction over justice and principle. That choice will define his legacy on human rights.”
Read: Drug war victims’ kin demand Senate’s surrender of Bato to ICC
La Viña wrote that the struggle for accountability in the Philippines is not over and that “international mechanisms remain available when domestic ones fail,” adding that “[t]oo many lives were lost for this fight to be abandoned now.” (RVO, DAA)
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