Overview
- The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s request for a temporary restraining order, removing an immediate legal barrier to enforcing an ICC arrest warrant.
- On Thursday the justice secretary ordered law enforcement to arrest dela Rosa and the National Bureau of Investigation said it would apprehend him without delay.
- Dela Rosa remains at large after fleeing the Senate following a shooting on May 13 that sent senators and staff scrambling and prompted probes into whether the incident aided his escape.
- The ICC’s unsealed warrant accuses the former police chief of making “essential contributions” to crimes against humanity during Duterte’s drug war and follows a chamber finding of reasonable grounds based on alleged orders, rewards and public promotion of killings.
- Dela Rosa’s lawyers argue the Philippines’ 2019 withdrawal from the Rome Statute blocks ICC jurisdiction and have signaled further appeals, while rights groups and the government say Manila must cooperate to secure accountability for thousands of drug‑war victims.