Ronald dela Rosa, a former head of the Philippine National Police force and now a senator, is set to be questioned next as part of the Philippines’ latest investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings during anti-drug operations ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla Jr. said Sunday.
Remulla said the government will summon dela Rosa on Monday and described the inquiry as a first step toward accountability for killings carried out during the years when Duterte was mayor of the southern city of Davao and later as president beginning in 2016. Remulla said the killings during police raids alarmed human rights groups and Western governments led by the United States.
In explaining why dela Rosa would be the starting point, Remulla said dela Rosa “has never been personally investigated.” Remulla said, “All officers involved must be held accountable and, just to be clear, he was the tip of the spear in the extrajudicial killings drive, so we will start with him and investigate down further.”
Remulla added that the investigation into dela Rosa would be “the start of the process to find accountability to everything that happened in those dark years where extrajudicial killings became a state policy.” He also said that “All airports, seaports, points of exits of the Philippines had been alerted” and that “All airlines have been informed,” without providing further details.
The Philippine inquiry is unfolding alongside the International Criminal Court proceedings involving Duterte. The former president, 81, was arrested in March 2025 and taken to the Netherlands, where he is facing trial at the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity. The ICC case relates to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, according to the AP report, and Duterte’s alleged conduct occurred before Manila withdrew from the court in 2019, a step that human rights activists said was aimed at avoiding accountability.
The AP report also said that dela Rosa has been among those linked to the anti-drug crackdown through his role as a former Davao city police chief appointed by Duterte to lead the national police force. The government official’s decision to begin domestically with dela Rosa follows speculation that the senator faced imminent arrest in connection with the ICC, although the report said dela Rosa has not appeared at the Senate since November 2025 after reports surfaced that he would be arrested.
Duterte, dela Rosa and other police officials have denied authorizing killings of drug suspects, according to the AP report. They have said the shootings occurred after suspects allegedly threatened law enforcers, and the report said Duterte repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death while in office.
A 2024 congressional investigation, the AP report said, recommended criminal charges to be filed against Duterte and key police officials involved in the crackdowns. Remulla said in his remarks that the Philippines’ investigation is “separate and unrelated” to the ICC probe, signaling that domestic proceedings would proceed under a different track.
Attribution and verbatim quote checks: The direct quotations in this article come from statements attributed to Remulla in the AP report.