MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) on Tuesday said that Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is a suspect-at-large by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a statement shared by ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti, the fugitive senator and former police chief joined 30 other individuals around the world with standing warrants of arrest for the “most atrocious of crimes”.
“He [Dela Rosa] must be arrested on the strength of the ICC warrant, served by the proper Philippine authorities. This warrant, issued in November 2025 but only unsealed yesterday, does not require a counterpart domestic warrant to be enforceable,” the NUPL said.
“Victims of the ‘war on drugs’, clients of the NUPL, demand that he be arrested immediately by the Philippine government. His arrest will be an anguished, somber moment for victims whose kin were killed in alleged nanlaban (fight back) arrest operations by police,” they added.
The group said that dela Rosa’s arrest should be similar to that of his ally, former president Rodrigo Duterte, which is “arrest or taking into custody by the Philippine police then surrender or turnover of custody to the ICC.”
“Questions about the warrant or the jurisdiction of the ICC cannot be entertained by Philippine courts because the Rome Statute explicitly provides that only the ICC judicial chambers can decide those. Protection by the Senate is inappropriate, not when the crimes imputed to Dela Rosa are so grave,” the group said.
“Dela Rosa cannot only show up for work only when convenient, and he cannot hide in the Senate from the enforcement of laws that the Senate has approved. Genuine justice demands that Dela Rosa be brought before the ICC at the soonest possible time to stand trial,” they added.
The ICC warrant of arrest for Dela Rosa was revealed by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday when he visited the Senate grounds with officials of the National Bureau of Investigation.
