Senator Dela Rosa Evades Arrest Warrant During Philippine Senate Leadership Vote

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa appeared at the Senate on May 11, 2026, after months of absence to participate in a leadership change. Before entering the plenary hall, he evaded agents from the National Bureau of Investigation who were attempting to serve an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

CCTV footage showed Dela Rosa emerging from the parking lot, using fire exit stairs and stumbling while rushing to the session hall. He told senators that the agents had accosted him, causing a small wound on his left hand. Medical staff later attended to the injury inside the chamber.

Dela Rosa cast his vote in favor of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who received support from at least 13 senators. Nine senators voted for the incumbent Senate President Tito Sotto, while two abstained. Cayetano thereby replaced Sotto as Senate president.

The Senate complex was placed on lockdown after the incident, with barbed wire installed at several entrances. Cayetano said the lockdown was intended to prevent the National Bureau of Investigation agents from leaving following a contempt order against them.

He added that the lockdown would be lifted once the agents were identified. Cayetano stated that the Senate under his leadership will not allow the arrest of Dela Rosa. He cited precedents involving former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon “Bong” Revilla, saying he would only permit an arrest if the warrant came from a Philippine court.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes said on May 11 that the International Criminal Court had transmitted an arrest warrant to the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime against Dela Rosa. The warrant concerns Dela Rosa's role as the first chief of the Philippine National Police during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Duterte is currently detained in The Hague, Netherlands, facing charges of crimes against humanity. Trillanes cited his own 2018 arrest for rebellion by the Philippine National Police while the Senate was in session as a precedent that should have allowed the arrest to proceed.

He said that by blocking the arrest, the Senate was protecting a fugitive. Officials stated that local police could not enforce any International Criminal Court warrant against Dela Rosa unless it is processed through Interpol. One official described the document held by Trillanes as an inactionable correspondence because the Philippines is not part of the relevant treaty and due process through Interpol was required.

An impeachment trial in the Senate is expected to follow.