SEN. Bong Go on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to serve in the Senate despite being named by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as one of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s co-perpetrators in his administration’s bloody antidrug campaign.
Go, a close ally and longtime aide of Duterte before winning a Senate seat in 2019, said he remains unfazed by the possibility of an arrest warrant from The Hague-based tribunal, maintaining that he has done nothing wrong.
“I am not afraid because I know I am innocent,” Go told reporters at the Senate. “That is why I am here and continue to report for work.”
His conduct was in stark contrast to another Duterte ally, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, who has not attended Senate sessions since November 2025, going into hiding when rumors circulated that the ICC had issued a warrant for his arrest.
The ICC has been conducting a probe into alleged crimes against humanity tied to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, a campaign that led to thousands of deaths during police operations and vigilante-style killings.
Human rights groups have long claimed that the crackdown disproportionately targeted the urban poor and involved systematic abuses. The authorities have consistently maintained that law enforcement officers acted in self-defense during legitimate anti-narcotics operations.
By the end of Duterte’s term in 2022, human rights groups reported that at least 150 child deaths had been verified, though they believe the actual number is significantly higher due to underreporting and fear of retaliation. Human Rights Watch said these deaths were the victims of direct targeting, proxy killings, mistaken identity or collateral damage.
Go denied the allegations against him, describing them as “unproven, one-sided and unfair.” He emphasized that his official role during the Duterte administration was distinct from law enforcement operations, noting that he served primarily as the former president’s longtime aide before assuming a legislative post.
“My job then was different,” Go said, reiterating that he did not direct police actions or antidrug operations.
He also defended Duterte’s policies, saying the former president “only did what was right” to protect Filipino youth from the dangers of illegal drugs — a position consistently echoed by Duterte allies who argue that the campaign was necessary to curb criminality and maintain public order.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019, a move initiated by Duterte amid mounting scrutiny of his antidrug campaign. However, the ICC has asserted that it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the country was still a member of the Rome Statute.
Go, who has built his legislative platform around health care access, Malasakit Centers and social welfare initiatives, said he would not allow the allegations to distract him from his mandate.
“I am here in the Senate to work,” he said. “I will not waste the trust given to me by millions of Filipinos.”
Arrest warrants against Go and Dela Rosa may be forthcoming from the ICC after they were identified as alleged co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity case, an international lawyer said.
Gilbert Andres, the common legal representative of victims of Duterte’s antidrug campaign, said that while applications for arrest warrants remain confidential, it would be reasonable to anticipate that such warrants could be issued later on.
Under ICC procedures, Andres said, requests for arrest warrants are kept under seal and are accessible only to the Office of the Prosecutor and judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber. The public would only learn of any issued warrants once they are formally transmitted to the appropriate state authorities for implementation.
Aside from Go and Dela Rosa, several former top officials were also identified as alleged co-perpetrators. These include former Philippine National Police chiefs Oscar Albayalde, Camilo Cascolan and Vicente Danao; former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II; former National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran; and former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Isidro Lapeña.
Andres clarified that arrest warrants issued by the ICC do not fall under the Philippines’ extradition framework, since the court is an international tribunal rather than a sovereign state. Instead, the transfer or surrender of suspects may proceed under Republic Act 9851, or the Philippine International Humanitarian Law Act, which authorizes government cooperation with international courts investigating or prosecuting serious international crimes.
Senate resolution
Meanwhile, the pro-Duterte Senate minority bloc filed a resolution expressing the Senate’s sense of the need to protect Filipinos against extraordinary rendition and to guarantee them due process.
“It is the sense of the Senate of the Philippines to protect all Filipinos against extraordinary rendition and guarantee them a reasonable time before their surrender by or extradition from the Philippines to seek redress from the courts and avail of legal remedies,” Senate Resolution 307, which was filed on Feb. 18, 2026, said.
“Due process and national sovereignty are two of the most fundamental tenets of our Constitution, the bedrock of our civil society, without which we can only hope in vain to honor God, build communities and transform the nation,” it added.
The resolution comes in the wake of unresolved debates over the limits of international criminal jurisdiction without the benefit of redress through local judicial processes, an action the minority bloc has repeatedly warned undermines both sovereignty and due process.