Gunshots at the Philippine Senate: Duterte’s Top Cop Barricades Himself as ICC Closes In

After shots were fired on May 13 - the Senate of the Philippines went into lockdown. Photo: Philippine News Agency

Gunshots erupted inside the Philippine Senate on Wednesday night, May 13, as a dramatic standoff unfolded around Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's police chief wanted by the ICC for his alleged role in a drug war that left thousands dead.

The shooting occurred at approximately 7:45 pm. inside the Senate complex in Pasay City, Metro Manila. No casualties were reported. The source of the gunfire has not been officially identified.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said no agents were deployed to arrest Dela Rosa and clarified that the gunshots were not fired by its personnel. NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the bureau had been ordered to stand down.

Reporters present at the scene said Marines detailed to the Senate fell into formation in the right wing of the building minutes before the shots rang out. The personnel were wearing bulletproof vests and cocked their long firearms before journalists were asked to vacate the building.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano confirmed the incident while speaking live on Facebook during a closed caucus. "This is the Senate of the Philippines, why are we under attack here?" Cayetano said. He added that he and allied senators had agreed not to leave Dela Rosa, and that Dela Rosa's legal remedies before the Supreme Court had not yet been exhausted.

This was not the first attempt to arrest Dela Rosa. On May 11, the senator resurfaced at the Senate plenary after reportedly staying out of public view for six months to cast his vote in the move to oust the sitting Senate president. CCTV footage that later circulated online showed NBI agents running through Senate premises as they attempted to arrest him.

As an incumbent senator inside the Senate chamber, Dela Rosa was initially placed under the institution’s protective custody. However, the Office of the President later said such privilege has limitations.

The ICC Warrant

The ICC confirmed that the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa was originally issued confidentially and under seal on November 6, 2025 by Pre-Trial Chamber I. It was reclassified as public on May 11, 2026, after copies were circulated to the media by Philippine authorities.

The chamber found reasonable grounds to believe Dela Rosa was individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder under Article 7(1)(a) of the Rome Statute, committed between July 3, 2016 and the end of April 2018, during which no fewer than 32 persons were killed.

ICC prosecutors accuse Dela Rosa of conspiring with former President Rodrigo Duterte in alleged crimes against humanity during a brutal anti-drug campaign that killed thousands.

The ICC pre-trial chamber found that Dela Rosa controlled a structure of power that allowed him to direct and control the actions of those implementing the campaign across Davao City and the Philippines during Duterte's presidency. As PNP chief, he held direct authority over command and direction, deployment of personnel and resources, and the imposition of disciplinary measures.

The warrant also cited his issuance of Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016, the police anti-illegal drugs campaign plan, which the chamber said reinforced the message that the campaign entailed the commission of crimes, including unlawful killings, as well as his public statements authorising and promoting the killing of alleged criminals, and his appointment of officers into strategic positions to advance the plan.

Dela Rosa served as police chief when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, where police would allegedly coerce low-level drug dealers to surrender themselves and then execute them, a tactic known as Oplan Tokhang. The killings spread across the country when Duterte became president and Dela Rosa ascended to head the national police force, according to Human Rights Watch.

Government data show at least 6,252 people died in police anti-illegal drug operations as of May 31, 2022. Human rights groups estimate the toll, including alleged vigilante-style killings, could reach around 30,000.

The existence of Dela Rosa's warrant was first revealed on November 8, 2025 by then-Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, prompting Dela Rosa to go into hiding and skip Senate hearings, leading the chamber to consider withholding his salary.

Duterte's Arrest in 2025

Duterte himself was arrested at Manila's international airport in March 2025 and flown to The Hague, where he remains in ICC custody.

On April 23, 2026, the ICC pre-trial chamber I unanimously confirmed all charges against Duterte and commits him to trial.

The Philippines withdrew from the ICC after the court began probing the drug war. Under the ICC's withdrawal mechanism, however, the court retains jurisdiction over crimes committed during the country's membership, between 2016 and 2019.

Amnesty International Philippines Executive Director Ritz Lee Santos III called on the government to immediately arrest Dela Rosa, saying he bore responsibility for command and direction over the police during the drug war.

As of May 14, the standoff remains unresolved. The Supreme Court has not issued a temporary restraining order on the ICC warrant, nor dismissed Dela Rosa's petition challenging it. The Senate building remains on lockdown.

Political Dynasty Feud: Marcos vs Duterte

The standoff over Dela Rosa's arrest did not occur in a vacuum. It unfolded against the backdrop of the most significant political rupture in the Philippines in decades, a bitter falling-out between the country's two most powerful political families.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, ran together as a political team in 2022, winning the presidency and vice presidency respectively. The alliance later unravelled.

In 2024, Sara Duterte was accused of plotting the assassination of Marcos Jr. She was subsequently impeached in 2025, though the country's top court later voided the case on procedural grounds.

On May 11, 2026, the House of Representatives voted again to impeach Sara Duterte. A total of 257 out of 318 members voted in favour, far surpassing the one-third threshold required to send the complaint to the Senate for trial.

The charges against her include misuse of confidential government funds, bribery, unexplained wealth, and death threats against President Marcos Jr. Anti-money laundering authorities flagged private bank transactions attributed to the vice president totalling more than US$110 million (approx NZ$185 million).

It was into this charged environment that Dela Rosa re-emerged. After months in hiding, he returned to the Senate on May 11, the same day the impeachment vote was held, to participate in a Senate leadership contest. His vote helped install Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate President, a move seen as significant to the Duterte camp's ability to influence the conduct of Sara Duterte's impeachment trial in the upper chamber.

The impeachment vote is the latest episode in the ongoing political feud between the Duterte family and President Marcos Jr., which has plunged the country into deeper political turmoil even as it faces serious economic uncertainty.

Dela Rosa Pleads Directly to President Marcos

As the standoff deepened, Dela Rosa made a direct and emotional appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his political opponent, to protect him from the ICC.

In his first interview after the ICC confirmed the arrest warrant, a tearful Dela Rosa appealed to Marcos not to surrender him to the international tribunal. "I hope he doesn't send me to The Hague, that's all. Any court here in the Philippines is fine. We are both Filipinos," he said. "Mr. President, if I have any accountability, I will face it in a local court, not before foreigners," he added.

In a separate address to supporters gathered outside the Senate building, Dela Rosa went further. "President BBM, I am a Filipino. I am your constituent," he said. "You have no personal grudge against me, I know that. I hope that as a Filipino, you will protect me as well."

Dela Rosa also warned Marcos that surrendering Filipino citizens to foreign courts would set a dangerous precedent, and suggested the president may be aware that what happened to former President Duterte could also happen to him.

"We don't know, one day, you might face the same hurdle, Mr. President. You will know, you will feel what I feel right now," he said.

The Marcos administration's response was measured. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the administration does not operate through harassment but through due process and fairness. "All assistance that can be extended to our countrymen in accordance with the law will not be denied," Castro said, adding that the interest of the people must remain the priority over personal gains.

Dela Rosa also appealed separately to his former colleagues in the military and police, singing portions of the Philippine Military Academy hymn and urging fellow PMA alumni to oppose government attempts to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC. He insisted the appeal was not a call for violence. "I am appealing for a peaceful support," he said.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, May 14, convened an emergency meeting with top government officials following days of escalating political tensions

-Asia Media Centre