The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant Monday for Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the second high-profile ICC action against a former top official in the Duterte administration’s violent crackdown on illegal drugs. The warrant accuses dela Rosa, who served as national police chief from July 2016 to April 2018, of being an “indirect co‑perpetrator” in the extrajudicial killing of at least 32 people, the court announced.
The warrant was originally issued confidentially in November, but former Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes disclosed it to reporters in Manila on Monday. The ICC subsequently confirmed its authenticity. Judges concluded that dela Rosa “made essential contributions to committing the alleged crime” of murder after studying evidence submitted by prosecutors.
Dela Rosa’s appearance at the Senate on Monday added a dramatic element to the day. He had been summoned for a new investigation into the killings, and as he entered the building, National Bureau of Investigation officers tried to intercept him. Dela Rosa ran into the plenary hall, where colleagues shielded him from the agents, preventing the warrant’s immediate service.
The arrest warrant is the latest milestone in an international reckoning over the drug war overseen by former President Rodrigo Duterte, which human rights groups say left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. Duterte, arrested in March 2025 on charges of crimes against humanity, is currently detained at the ICC’s detention center in The Hague. He denies authorizing the killings, maintaining that drug suspects were shot only after threatening law enforcement. No trial date has been scheduled, and the former president has missed several hearings because of ill health.
Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, welcomed the warrant’s unsealing. “This is another blow to the wall of impunity protecting those who allegedly committed atrocities during the Philippines’ murderous ‘drug war,’” she said. Vignoli called on Philippine authorities to detain dela Rosa promptly and send him to the court in the Netherlands.
Dela Rosa once oversaw the police force as it carried out the deadly campaign. Police officials have separately summoned him to appear for an investigation into his role in the Duterte-era killings, as domestic and international pressure mounts over the thousands of extrajudicial deaths that took place while Duterte was mayor of Davao and later president.