Gunshots rang out at the Philippine Senate on Wednesday where a legislator and former police chief has taken refuge after the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered his arrest for killings related to the war on drugs campaign of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Senate staff, reporters and others inside the building ran for cover, some screaming and crying, as the shots were heard.
There were no reports of casualties or injuries, according to Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza.
Mendoza said law enforcement officers believed to be from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) fired gunshots as they retreated after another failed attempt to arrest Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, the former police chief under Duterte and chief implementor of the war on drugs campaign.
The NBI, however, denied sending agents to the Senate following an initial attempt to arrest Dela Rosa on Monday.
The incident happened hours after Dela Rosa, nicknamed Bato, or rock, went on social media asking for public support against his arrest.
“I am appealing to you. I hope you can help me. Do not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague,” Dela Rosa said in a video posted on Facebook.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered an investigation on the incident, noting that he did not give instructions to the NBI to carry out the ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa.
“The government did not do this,” he said. “No soldier, military, or NBI personnel entered the Senate. We do not know who tried to enter and because of that, there was a shooting.”
Marcos said he has spoken with Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who claimed that the Senate was under attack after giving protection to Dela Rosa.
“We agree that the thing to do now is to tell our people all to calm down and we will get to the bottom of this,” Marcos said. “We will find out who started the trouble.”
The The Hague-based ICC confirmed on Monday that it has issued an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa linked to his involvement in Duterte's war on drugs campaign.
Duterte is detained at The Hague by the ICC, which has confirmed the charges against him in relation to the killings under the illegal drugs crackdown during his presidency from 2016 to 2022.
Dela Rosa was seen running into the Senate building hours before the official confirmation of the ICC’s arrest warrant, allegedly being chased by NBI agents sent to implement the warrant.
A commotion occurred between the NBI agents and Senate security staff, who were protecting the senator.
According to the ICC, the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa was secretly issued on November 6, 2025.
The senator “is alleged to have committed the crime against humanity of murder ... at least between 3 July 2016 and the end of April 2018, during which no less than 32 persons were killed, in the Republic of the Philippines,” the ICC said in a statement.
ICC judges “found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Dela Rosa is allegedly criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator … for the crime against humanity of murder,” it added.
The ICC launched an investigation into the "war on drugs" in 2018 after complaints were filed by opposition politicians and families of the victims. The Philippines withdrew from the ICC a month after the preliminary investigation started.
According to official records from the national police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, at least 6,252 people were killed in anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016, to May 31, 2022. Local and international human rights groups have estimated the death toll to be three times higher.
Questions have also arisen about whether the suspects were extrajudicially killed by police and whether some of those killed actually had any role in drug sales.
