Philippine Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla Jr. said Sunday that former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa, now a senator, will be summoned as part of a new domestic investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings during the anti-drug crackdowns ordered by ex-President Rodrigo Duterte. The summons marks the start of a process Remulla described as seeking accountability for “those dark years where extrajudicial killings became a state policy.”
Dela Rosa, a former Davao city police chief who was later appointed by Duterte to lead the national police force, “has never been personally investigated,” Remulla said. The interior secretary described dela Rosa as “the tip of the spear in the extrajudicial killings drive,” adding: “we will start with him and investigate down further.”
The Philippine investigation is separate from the International Criminal Court’s prosecution of Duterte, who was arrested in March 2025 and is on trial in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity. Dela Rosa has not appeared at the Philippine Senate since November 2025 after reports surfaced that he would be arrested on an ICC warrant. Remulla said all airports, seaports and exit points have been alerted, without providing further details.
The thousands of killings, mostly of impoverished drug suspects, occurred during Duterte’s tenure as mayor of Davao and after he became president in 2016, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and Western governments. A 2024 Philippine congressional investigation recommended criminal charges against Duterte and key police officials.
Duterte and dela Rosa have denied authorizing the killings, saying drug suspects were shot after allegedly threatening law enforcers, but Duterte openly and repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death while in office. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019, a move human rights activists said was aimed at escaping accountability. The alleged crimes for which he is being tried occurred before the withdrawal.