By Erika Mae P. Sinaking, Reporter
SENATOR Ronald “Bato” M. dela Rosa is now staying within the Senate after a high-stake standoff on Monday prompted the chamber to position him under protective custody, shielding him from arrest for his role within the Duterte administration’s deadly war on drugs.
Analysts on Tuesday said the Senate mustn’t allow Mr. dela Rosa to evade a legitimate arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), citing international treaty obligations and domestic legal provisions governing cooperation with the tribunal.
Mr. dela Rosa, who served as police chief of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, on Tuesday denied he ordered the killings of drug war victims, claiming that evidence held by the ICC was “fabricated.”
“My only role is that I led [the drug war] but that doesn’t mean I ordered to kill all of them. After all, if the lives of the cops are at risk, they need to save themselves,” Mr. dela Rosa told reporters in mixed English and Filipino.
Mr. dela Rosa also maintained that he’ll only answer to local authorities, saying that they are going to present themselves should there be an area grievance filed against him.
“Because if this just isn’t politics, why don’t they file a case against me in local courts?” he said. “In the event that they want accountability, file a grievance against me here within the Philippines.”
The Senate on Monday placed Mr. dela Rosa under protective custody, based on Senate Resolution No. 44, barring authorities from entering its premises.
The senator had been absent since reports of a possible ICC arrest warrant surfaced in November, reappearing on Monday just as National Bureau of Investigation agents attempted to arrest him.
NOT A SAFE HOUSE
Ephraim B. Cortez, president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, said that invoking “protective custody” to maintain the senator contained in the Senate premises amounts to effectively blocking the enforcement of a global legal process.
“By providing him with protective custody, the Senate is shielding him from arrest. So he has to remain contained in the Senate constructing. The protection is not going to be prolonged outside the Senate constructing,” Mr. Cortez told BusinessWorld via a Viber chat.
“The Senate Resolution extending such protection has no binding effect and just isn’t a legal basis for stopping the issuance of the warrant of arrest,” he said.
He added that the measure has no legal effect against international obligations, noting that domestic resolutions cannot override treaty-based commitments.
Jose Sonny G. Matula, Nagkaisa chairman and Federation of Free Employees president, likewise said “protective custody” mustn’t be used as a “magic phrase” to defeat a lawful arrest.
“Protective custody normally means custody for an individual’s safety, not custody to make the Senate a secure house from legal process,” Mr. Matula said in a separate Viber chat. “If it means Senator dela Rosa will stay within the Senate to avoid arrest, then that just isn’t protective custody — that’s political shelter.”
He identified that under Article VI, Section 11 of the Structure, senators are immune from arrest just for offenses punishable by not greater than six years while Congress is in session, a limit that doesn’t apply to crimes against humanity.
The ICC on Monday made public an arrest warrant for Mr. dela Rosa for the crime against humanity of murder, identifying him as an alleged indirect co-perpetrator with Mr. Duterte.
The warrant revealed that judges of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I discovered reasonable grounds to imagine the previous Philippine National Police chief was involved in a typical plan targeting alleged criminals within the context of the anti-drug campaign.
Specifically, the chamber linked the criminal liability finding to incidents between July 3, 2016 and end-April 2018, during which not less than 32 individuals were killed.
“It’s now for the national authorities to arrest and give up the suspect to the ICC,” ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said in a video statement late on Monday evening.
Ranhilio C. Aquino, dean of the San Beda Graduate School of Law, argued that ICC warrants don’t require domestic judicial issuance for enforcement.
“Article 127 of the Rome Statute OBLIGATES the Philippines to cooperate with processes of the ICC — including the service of warrants of arrest… This, coupled with the aforecited Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9851, provide the legal warrant for the arrest of Bato dela Rosa,” he said on a Facebook post.
He described the Senate’s actions as “coddling someone charged with one of the crucial egregious of crimes that may be committed.”
Victims’ groups, Rise Up for Life and for Rights, and human rights lawyers also called for immediate compliance with the ICC process, warning that failure to act would undermine international accountability mechanisms.
“Dela Rosa is now considered a suspect-at-large by the International Criminal Court… He have to be arrested on the strength of the ICC warrant, served by the correct Philippine authorities,” the group said.
“Dela Rosa cannot only show up for work only when convenient, and he cannot hide within the Senate from the enforcement of laws that the Senate has approved,” they added.
NULLIFY SENATE RESO
Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court has been asked to nullify a legislative resolution for allegedly obstructing the judicial process and violating the doctrine of separation of powers.
John Barry T. Tayam, a senior highschool teacher from Las Piñas City, filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition, arguing that Senate Resolution No. 44, also generally known as the Filipino Protection from Extraordinary Rendition Resolution, is unconstitutional and was issued with grave abuse of discretion.
Mr. Tayam said that the resolution — which mandates the exhaustion of domestic remedies before a Filipino is surrendered to a foreign entity — effectively turns the Senate right into a “sanctuary” for Mr. dela Rosa amid an ICC warrant.
“A Senate Resolution is an internal expression of sentiment and can’t legally override a statute,” a part of the grievance read.
“To permit the Senate to shield its members from judicial process under the guise of institutional integrity can be to create a privileged class above the law. The Court, as the ultimate arbiter, must reaffirm that no institution is so sacred that it could operate outside the reach of the Structure,” it added.
Mr. Tayam invoked the Doctrine of Transcendental Importance, urging the High Court to resolve the “constitutional crisis” and make clear the bounds of parliamentary privilege.
PIECE OF PAPER
Mr. dela Rosa’s legal counsel Israelito P. Torreon said that the Philippine National Police cannot mechanically implement any foreign arrest warrant, noting that it should undergo local processes.
“I hope and pray that they are going to follow the rule of law that any foreign warrant just isn’t mechanically enforceable here in our country. We’re an independent country, and their processes have to be confirmed in our country first,” Mr. Torreon told reporters, adding that the Philippines just isn’t an extension of the ICC.
The Philippines withdrew from the tribunal in March 2018, with the withdrawal of the Rome Statute taking effect a 12 months after the notification.
While the Philippines is not any longer a member of the ICC, the judicial body still has jurisdiction on the crimes against humanity of murder committed from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.
“What I do know is that the one warrant of arrest [that is] immediately effective here within the Philippines is the warrant issued by our local judges,” Mr. Torreon said.
He said that he’s hoping that the Supreme Court will grant their request for a brief restraining order against the ICC warrant against Mr. dela Rosa.
Ferdinand S. Topacio, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino deputy spokesperson, said that the ICC arrest warrant is a “piece of paper” within the country.
“We cannot give power to a foreign court and say that they’re a court of competent jurisdiction. We have now the authority to do this,” he told reporters in a mixture of English and Filipino.
Meanwhile, the Palace said the Philippine government will afford protection to each Filipino after an embattled Mr. dela Rosa asked for cover from President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.
Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the senator’s plea for cover can be met in line with the law.
“Even those extrajudicial killing victims are also asking for cover from the federal government,” she told a briefing in Filipino, referring to drug war victims. “So, an accused like Senator Bato is asking for cover; everyone can be given protection in line with the law.”
“If he’s arrested, all rights as an accused can be granted to him,” said Ms. Castro.
Former President Mr. Duterte was arrested last March 2025 for his war on drugs, which killed 1000’s of Filipinos, mostly urban poor, without due process. He’s currently detained in The Hague, the Netherlands and is awaiting trial. — with Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel and Chloe Mari A. Hufana