Former Philippine ‘drug war’ police chief runs away from government agents to avoid international arrest warrant

Scurrying through the backhalls and stairwells of the Philippine Senate, trailed by aides and falling over at least once, the large, bald man was trying to evade local agents.

At the centre of this comedic cat-and-mouse chase was Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, a longtime ally of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who has gone from a powerful enforcer of a bloody drug crackdown to a wanted criminal on the run.

The scene was captured on CCTV and quickly became talk of the entire country.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuse Dela Rosa of conspiring with Duterte in alleged crimes against humanity, during a brutal anti-drug campaign that killed thousands.

On Monday, the ICC confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for him, citing incidents in which 32 people were killed between 2016 to 2018. When local investigative unit officers failed to arrest the 64-year-old, having pursued him through the bowels of parliament, riot police surrounded the Senate compound.

In response, diehard supporters of Dela Rosa and Duterte gathered to protest against the ICC’s warrant.

More than 100 supporters camped outside the Senate building overnight, waving the national flag and blocking nearby roads, before being dispersed by police.

A spokesperson for the ICC told CNN that as a judicial institution, it “relies on States co-operation to implement its arrest warrants,” adding it will need “national authorities to arrest and surrender the suspect” to its court.

By Wednesday, the situation remained in a stalemate. Dela Rosa had holed up in the Senate building for two nights, pleading in a livestreamed press conference on Facebook not to be sent to The Hague in the Netherlands to face the charges.

Appearing teary-eyed when asked about the possibility of being arrested, lawmaker said it was “the lowest point of my life.”

“I will face it, as long as they follow the proper process. If there is a legitimate warrant of arrest, they should bring it before the local court. Let’s discuss it, and we will face it,” he said on Tuesday.

He reiterated his position that the ICC has no jurisdiction to arrest him without approval from the local Supreme Court.

Such circumvention of due process is what Duterte and Dela Rosa stand accused of.

Loyal sidekick

The police officer rose to fame thanks to his close relationship with the strongman leader, who ruled the Philippines with an iron fist from 2016 to 2022, a period marked by the brutal war on drugs.

Dela Rosa, who goes by the moniker “Bato” which translates to “Rock,” hails from the Davao region in southern Philippines and has long been a loyal sidekick of Duterte.

He served as police chief when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, where police would allegedly coerce low-level dealers to surrender themselves then execute them, a tactic known as “oplan tokhang.”

For more than two decades, the anti-drug operation was enacted across Davao. Extrajudicial killings spread across the country when Duterte became president and Dela Rosa ascended the upper echelons of the national police force, according to Human Rights Watch.

The ICC arrest warrant alleges that Dela Rosa used his position as national police chief to implement “tokhang”-style killings nationally during Duterte’s presidency, allegations which he has repeatedly denied.

In an interview with CNN in 2016, Dela Rosa said that police officers kill suspected drug dealers “if it endangers our lives.”

When asked how he felt about seeing bodies of alleged drug dealers killed and abandoned on the sidewalk, he said: “Mixed emotions. I pity the guy for losing his life. At the same time I see it as one less pusher, one less pusher. Minus one.”

More than 6,000 people were killed in anti-drug operations after Duterte took office, according to police data. Many of the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders happened in the poorest areas of the country – and independent monitors believe the number of those killed could be much higher.

Duterte himself was dramatically arrested at Manila’s international airport in March 2025 and was put on a plane to The Hague, where he remains in ICC custody. A start date for his trial has not yet been set.

Duterte has long denied the accusations of human rights abuses and contends that drug issues should be settled by domestic law enforcement. He has repeatedly said he will not kowtow to the foreign jurisdiction of the ICC.

The Philippines was a signatory to the ICC, but Duterte cancelled its membership after the court began probing his drug war. However, under the ICC’s withdrawal mechanism, the court keeps jurisdiction over crimes committed during the membership – in this case, between 2016 and 2019, when the Philippines’ pullout became official.

As speculation swirled for months that an ICC warrant was on the way, Dela Rosa had not appeared in public.

But he appeared in public for the first time on Monday at the Senate seemingly to participate in the latest episode in a long-running saga between President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice-President Sara Duterte, the daughter of Rodrigo Duterte.

Two things happened on Monday. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president on a range of accusations that include misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and plotting to assassinate the president. She now awaits trial at the Senate; if they kick her out, it will end her presidential run for 2028.

To aid the Duterte clan’s political survival, Dela Rosa and other senators voted to oust the chamber’s president, installing Duterte ally Alan Peter Cayetano to lead the Senate.

Not long after the vote, Dela Rosa was placed under “protective custody,” according to government-run Philippine News Agency, effectively shielding him from the threat of arrest.

By Wednesday, it remained to be seen whether authorities would continue to pursue Dela Rosa.

Ritz Lee Santos III, executive director of Amnesty International Philippines, said the government should “immediately arrest” Dela Rosa following the issue of the arrest warrant, to face charges along with Duterte.

“Dela Rosa held a key role in the implementation of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ under the administration of former President Duterte, responsible for command and direction over the police,” Santos said in a statement.

“Dela Rosa’s current position as Senator should not shield him from facing charges at the ICC. It is imperative that regardless of politics, the process of justice prevails.”

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN