Philippine Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa asks the military for support as he seeks to prevent enforcement of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest action tied to the former Duterte administration’s drug war. Sources report that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant alleging that dela Rosa bears criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity, specifically murder, in relation to the drug war. Dela Rosa, a sitting senator and former police chief who previously served as the Duterte government’s leading anti-drug official, is also reported to have faced similar allegations alongside former President Rodrigo Duterte and other individuals named in the ICC matter.
According to the reports, dela Rosa is currently staying inside the Senate premises after Senate leadership stops government steps meant to carry out the arrest warrant and transfer him to the Netherlands for trial proceedings. He is described as appealing to the military to block or deter the government’s attempts to take him into custody. The outlets do not indicate changes in the ICC case itself, but they describe a confrontation between dela Rosa’s attempts to resist custody enforcement and the government/Senate’s handling of the warrant.
