The chief enforcer of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly "war on drugs" locked himself in his Senate offices on Monday after the International Criminal Court unsealed a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of crimes against humanity.
In the hours before the ICC confirmed that the warrant had been issued for Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, allies in the Senate placed him under protective custody after a brief standoff with law enforcement agents.
Authorities did not confirm why officials from the National Bureau of Investigation pursued dela Rosa at the Senate building, but former senator Antonio Trillanes, who led multiple investigations into the war on drugs and long campaigned for Duterte to be indicted by the ICC, told reporters that they were there to serve the warrant.
Duterte, who was president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested by Philippine police in March 2025 and taken to the ICC in The Hague, where judges last month confirmed charges of murder as a crime against humanity, paving the way for trial.
Dela Rosa, who was mentioned by ICC prosecutors as a co-conspirator in the Duterte case, was seen attending a Senate session on Monday for the first time since disappearing from public view in November. He has previously denied being involved in illegal killings.
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