The Tamesis
May 25, 2026
Manila – Arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for other accomplices in the murder of former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity must be served “immediately” by law enforcement officials, Malacañang said on Sunday.
This is to prevent a situation similar to that of fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who evaded an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him more than a week after fleeing the Senate premises where authorities attempted to arrest him.
Palace press officer Claire Castro said the upcoming ICC arrest warrant should be executed immediately, citing Philippine law and a recent Supreme Court ruling that denied de la Rosa’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the ICC arrest warrant issued against him.
“These [warrants] There is no need to go through local courts,” Castro said in an interview with dzMM.
She noted that Republic Act 9851, the Philippine Act Concerning Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity, already lays out the options available to the government.
Section 17 of the law states: “In the interests of justice, the relevant Philippine authorities may exempt from investigation or prosecution an offense punishable under this Act if such offense has already been investigated or prosecuted by another court or international tribunal.”
“Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite a suspect or accused in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another country in accordance with applicable extradition laws and treaties.”
The measure that led to the law’s enactment in 2009 was supported by Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada and Loren Legarda, among others.
In addition to de la Rosa, the ICC documents identify seven other people, including Senator Christopher “Bong” Wu, as co-conspirators in Duterte’s deadly anti-drug campaign that has killed more than 6,000 people, according to official government estimates.
But the high court clarified on Sunday that it had not yet made a decision on de la Rosa’s main petition over the constitutionality of the ICC arrest warrant.
“As stated in the court’s press release last Wednesday, the main petition has not yet been decided,” the court said in a statement after claiming online that it had made its final ruling.
However, Castro noted that the arrest warrant issued by The Hague Tribunal is valid because the ICC is an international court and is not considered a foreign country.
“The law is clear [on what the government can do]. The government’s position is that it broke no laws [in enforcing the warrants of arrest issued by the ICC],” she said.
surrender to the authorities
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Natatez Jr. called on former police chief Dela Rosa to cooperate with authorities.
“We appeal to Senator Bartow’s enduring sense of duty as a lifelong law enforcer to ensure that this legal process is resolved with the utmost dignity,” Natates said in a statement Sunday.
The PNP chief said airports and maritime units have been put on alert, and regional and local police units have been instructed to exercise maximum restraint when encountering the senator to avoid unnecessary escalation.
National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Madibage said earlier that Dela Rosa was “armed and dangerous,” but the fugitive senator’s lawyer denied that.
Attorney Israelto Torreon said in a statement, “This characterization has no factual basis and, in our opinion, does not contribute to an orderly and peaceful resolution of the current legal issues.”
“Senator de la Rosa is a sitting senator of the Republic of the Philippines and he has always conducted himself in a peaceful manner consistent with his dignity as a public servant and as a citizen of the Philippines,” he added.
no arrests
Castro, meanwhile, urged defendants on any future arrest warrants to surrender to authorities and not go into hiding, as De La Rosa did.
She noted that most of the alleged co-conspirators are former law enforcement officers familiar with the law.
“They should know what the warrant means, right? So, in other words, if there is a warrant and the Supreme Court does not issue a TRO, they themselves should surrender,” Castro said.
Others labeled as Duterte’s co-conspirators include:
• Vitaliano Aguirre II, former Minister of Justice
• Vicente Danao, former Davao City Police Chief and Deputy Director of Operations, PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
• Oscar Albayalde, former Philippine National Capital Region chief
• Dante Gierran, former NBI Davao Regional Director
• Isidro Lapeña, former Davao City police chief and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief
• Camilo Cascolan, former PNP chief of operations and Davao regional police chief financial officer, died in 2023.
Ross Tugade, an expert on international law, said the executive branch should “take the [its] Keep our feet on the ground and truly meet any remaining obligations we still have under the ICC. “
Despite no longer being a party to the Rome Statute since 2019, Malacañang said the country still has residual obligations because of anti-drug war crimes allegedly committed by Duterte and his associates while the ICC still has jurisdiction.
“At this point, there’s really nothing that prevents the government from executing any ICC warrant. There’s really nothing that would prevent them from executing any of the ICC proceedings,” said Tugade, one of the ICC’s accredited paralegals. –Reporting by ANDREA GREGORIO, KEITH CLORES, DIANNE SAMPANG and ZACARIAN SARAO
