Gunshots broke out on the Philippine Senate on Wednesday and other people ran for canopy after a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court said his arrest was imminent and security forces entered the constructing.
There have been no immediate reports of casualties, nonetheless, Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza told reporters following the chaos on the legislature within the capital Manila.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a former police chief who was the fundamental enforcer of ex-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs,” had earlier urged people to mobilize to forestall his arrest and handover to the ICC.
The Hague-based court on Monday unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa on charges of crimes against humanity, the identical that 81-year-old Duterte is accused of as he awaits trial within the ICC following his transfer last 12 months.
Dela Rosa, 64, has denied involvement in illegal killings.
“I’m appealing to you, I hope you may help me. Don’t allow one other Filipino to be delivered to The Hague,” he said in a video on Facebook from his Senate office, where he has taken refuge since Monday when placed under legislative protection.
Senate Secretary Mendoza said law enforcement officers believed to be from the National Bureau of Investigation had attempted to enter the Senate and fired as they retreated.
But NBI Director Melvin Matibag told GMA News that no agents had been deployed.
“I spoke with the (justice) minister and he told me to await instructions. We’ve no preparations in anyway,” he said.
Greater than 10 military personnel in camouflage fatigues arrived, some carrying assault rifles, Reuters journalists saw.
The chief of the military’s public affairs office Xerxes Trinidad told Reuters the Senate had requested help to “assist them in securing the power.”
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Interior Minister Jonvic Remulla said it was unclear who fired shots and security footage would have to be checked. He said dela Rosa was protected and he assured him no arrest can be made.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr called for calm, insisting his government had no involvement within the incident and didn’t know who was responsible.
Marcos in a video message also said there was no instruction to arrest Senator Dela Rosa, adding: “We’ll resolve this.”
The office of the prosecutor on the ICC referred requests for comment to the court. The court’s press office didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Dela Rosa was Duterte’s top lieutenant overseeing a fierce crackdown during which hundreds of alleged drug dealers were slain, with human rights groups accusing police of systematic murders and cover-ups.
Police reject the allegations and say the greater than 6,000 killed in anti-drugs operations were all armed and had resisted arrest.
Activists say the actual death toll may never be known, with users and small-time peddlers gunned down almost every day in mysterious slumland killings blamed on vigilantes and turf wars.
The Senate was heavily guarded throughout Wednesday, with lines of police deployed to maintain the peace as protesters gathered, some calling for the arrest of dela Rosa, higher known within the Philippines as “Bato,” or “rock.”
His ally, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, said he had spoken to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who had assured him no government personnel had been involved in Wednesday’s incident.
Dela Rosa, who returned to the Senate on Monday for the primary time since disappearing from public view in November, has appealed to Marcos not handy him over to the ICC.
He has also filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court urging it to dam any try to transfer him to The Hague. The court in a press release on Wednesday gave all parties to the petition 72 hours to reply.
Dela Rosa insists any transfer to the ICC can be illegal, because the country is not any longer a signatory to the Rome Statute.
Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018 when its prosecutor announced a preliminary examination into his anti-drugs campaign had began. The ICC says alleged crimes committed while a rustic was a member are under its jurisdiction.
Duterte is ready to turn out to be the primary Asian former head of state to go on trial on the ICC, a court he repeatedly dared to pursue him during a succession of public speeches, saying he was able to “rot in jail” to guard his people from the drugs scourge.
He maintains his innocence, based on his legal team.