Philippine Senator Runs From Agents in Senate to Evade ICC Arrest

A senator raced through hallways and up stairwells inside the Philippine Senate building on Monday to evade arrest by government agents attempting to serve an International Criminal Court warrant. Security camera footage captured the pursuit, showing the senator stumbling on a staircase as agents gave chase after he arrived for a session.

The standoff ended with police stating they would not arrest him while he remained in Senate custody. Barbed wire and riot police later surrounded the compound. The senator spent the night in a Senate office after the chamber's new president offered protective custody.

He has vowed to fight any effort to send him to The Hague and called on supporters to maintain a vigil outside the building until the Supreme Court rules on his case.

The International Criminal Court confirmed on Monday night that it had issued the arrest warrant for the senator, who served as national police chief during the former president's anti-drug crackdown. The court named him an indirect co-perpetrator in a case accusing the former leader of crimes against humanity over killings that numbered in the thousands between 2016 and 2018.

The warrant had been issued confidentially in November. Unconfirmed reports of its existence prompted the senator to avoid the Senate for months until he attended Monday's session to vote in a leadership election. His lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to block any arrest in the absence of a valid Philippine judicial warrant.

The senator has denied any wrongdoing and previously stated he would only face proceedings in a local court.

The chaos coincided with a vote by the lower house to impeach the vice president, the daughter of the former president. The Senate, dominated by allies of the former leader, elected a new president on Monday who stated the chamber would only act on arrest warrants issued by a Philippine court.

>The unusual pursuit was captured on CCTV cameras inside the Philippine senate. Ronald dela Rosa, a longtime ally of the former president Rodrigo Duterte, raced along the hallways of the upper house complex, stumbling on the staircase, as he fled government agents.

— The Guardian, May 12 2026 The national union of journalists reported that media workers were blocked from entering or leaving the Senate complex during the evening. Supporters of the former president gathered outside the building on Monday.

Families of people killed during the anti-drug campaign have demanded that the senator be handed over to the International Criminal Court. One mother whose two sons died at the height of the crackdown said the senator played a major role in carrying out the former president's policies and deserved to be held accountable.

The former president has been in ICC custody in The Hague since March 2025. Last month, ICC judges rejected arguments that the court lacked jurisdiction because the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019, noting the alleged crimes occurred while the country was still a member.

The senator emerged Tuesday from a fellow senator's office dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. It remained unclear how long he would remain inside the Senate or what would happen upon his exit. >The Senate reiterates that it possesses no constitutional or statutory authority to provide 'protective custody' or sanctuary from lawful arrest, surrender, or judicial processes.