THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Efforts to arrest a Philippine senator who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on a charge of murder as a crime against humanity led to a burst of gunfire Wednesday and a standoff in the Senate building.
The tense scenes in Manila came two days after the court based in The Hague unsealed an arrest warrant for Ronald Marapon dela Rosa, who served as national police chief under former President Rodrigo Duterte and helped carry out his anti-drug crackdowns in which thousands of mostly petty suspects were killed.
Issued in November, the warrant charges dela Rosa with the crime against humanity of murder of no fewer than 32 people between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, when he led the police force.
Dela Rosa, 64, has vowed to fight the ICC arrest order and said he would seek all legal remedies.
The ICC had no immediate comment on the events in Manila.
The Philippines quits the ICC
The Philippines left the court in 2019 after telling the United Nations it was doing so following then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s announcement that she was opening a preliminary probe into allegations of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
The country hasn’t rejoined the ICC under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022. But the Marcos administration said it would cooperate if the ICC asked international police to take Duterte into custody through a so-called red notice — a request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a suspect. It wasn’t immediately clear if such a notice was issued for dela Rosa.
Duterte was arrested last year and sent to The Hague to faces charges of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly drug crackdown. He remains jailed there awaiting trial.
Judges last year rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court didn’t have jurisdiction because the Philippines had withdrawn from the court. Countries can’t “abuse” their right to withdraw from the Rome Statute “by shielding persons from justice in relation to alleged crimes that are already under consideration,” the ruling said.
The ICC in a nutshell
The court was set up in 2002 and aims to hold leaders and senior officials accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has 125 member states, but three major global powers — the United States, Russia and China — are not members. Ukraine officially joined the court in January 2025.
More than 900 staff work for the court, which has a budget this year of just over 196 million euros ($229 million).
The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning it only takes on cases when countries’ legal systems are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.
The United States and Russia both oppose the court
Trump’s administration has slapped sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, some ICC judges and Khan’s two deputies. Trump accuses the court of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting America and Israel.
Trump previously sanctioned Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, during his first term in the White House. The Biden administration subsequently lifted those sanctions.
Russia also rejects the court’s authority and has issued a warrant for Khan and the ICC judge who signed President Vladimir Putin’s warrant.
Putin has already traveled overseas since the warrant was issued in 2023, including to ICC member state Mongolia. He has also traveled to China and North Korea, which are not court members.
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