Multiple gunshots were heard inside the Philippine Senate on Wednesday, where Senator Ronald Dela Rosa had sought refuge amid efforts to arrest him over an International Criminal Court (ICC) case. Journalists at the scene reported hearing at least five gunshots minutes after soldiers carrying rifles and wearing protective gear entered the legislative building.
Dela Rosa has appealed to the military to block attempts to arrest him and extradite him to the Netherlands, where the ICC is headquartered in The Hague, to face charges of crimes against humanity. The senator, who served as former President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief enforcer in the anti-drug campaign, has been inside the Senate building since Monday.
“We are under attack,” Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of Dela Rosa, said in a livestream on Facebook, without providing further details. Another Dela Rosa ally, Senator Robin Padilla, was later seen moving upstairs while urging journalists to leave the area. Dela Rosa’s whereabouts were not immediately known.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dela Rosa, popularly known as “Bato”, appealed to “my fellow men in uniform” and former classmates at the Philippine Military Academy to oppose what he called attempts by President Ferdinand Marcos Junior’s government to “hand me over to foreigners.” Dela Rosa served as Philippine police chief between 2016 and 2018 during the first two years of Duterte’s presidency. Human rights groups allege Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown left thousands dead, many of them suspected drug users and small-time peddlers.
Duterte himself was arrested in March last year and flown to the Netherlands, where he remains detained in The Hague awaiting trial. Dela Rosa had largely stayed out of public view since November last year before resurfacing on Monday to participate in a surprise Senate vote that helped Duterte loyalists regain control of the chamber.
This incident marks a significant escalation in the ongoing political turmoil surrounding the ICC investigation into the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign. The Philippine government has previously rejected ICC jurisdiction, but the arrest of Duterte and the current attempt to detain Dela Rosa indicate continued international pressure. The situation remains fluid, with authorities yet to confirm the source of the gunfire or the current status of Dela Rosa.
