Philippine Government Urges Supreme Court to Reject Fugitive Senator’s ICC Appeal |
ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia
Philippine Government Urges Supreme Court to Reject Fugitive Senator’s ICC Appeal
The Office of the Solicitor General described Ronald Dela Rosa, who is wanted by The Hague-based court for his role in a bloody anti-drug campaign, as a “fugitive from justice.”
Philippine Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa takes part in a vote at the Senate in Manila, Philippines, May 11, 2026.
The Philippines’ solicitor general has urged the Supreme Court to reject a legal attempt by fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa seeking to block his arrest and extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
On May 11, the ICC unsealed a warrant dated November 6 for Dela Rosa’s arrest, charging him with crimes against humanity linked to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs.” Dela Rosa subsequently fled into his office in the Senate, before slipping out of the building before dawn on Thursday. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
The senator also filed three petitions to the Supreme Court, requesting that it stop authorities from arresting him and surrendering him to the ICC.
In a 74-page comment filed on Saturday and made public yesterday, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) described Dela Rosa as a “fugitive” and argued that his bid lacks any legal basis.
The OSG stated that the Philippines “will never become a sanctuary for impunity for the narrow and universally condemned class of atrocities known as crimes against humanity,” and added that the country may enforce the ICC warrant under a domestic law, Republic Act 9851, which allows authorities to surrender suspects accused of grave international crimes to international courts for prosecution.
It said that Dela Rosa was not entitled to relief because his “actions show that he comes to court with unclean hands.”
“His flight, coupled with the fact that he had previously gone into hiding, is not merely incidental but is a deliberate act to avoid accountability,” the OSG added. “His conduct places him squarely within the definition of a fugitive from justice.”
Dela Rosa is wanted by the ICC for his prominent role in the anti-drug campaign, which raged throughout Duterte’s six years in office (2016-2022). Estimates of the number killed during the campaign range from an official estimate of around 6,000 to as many as 30,000.
If arrested, he would join his former boss, Duterte, who was arrested in March 2025 and extradited to the ICC for his role in the campaign. The 81-year-old former president is set to stand trial after a pretrial panel last month ruled that there were “substantial grounds” to believe that he was guilty of crimes against humanity. It has long been expected that Dela Rosa would be next in line, and prior to last week’s dramatic events, he had not appeared in public since........