Late Wednesday night, chaos erupted inside the Philippine Senate compound when sudden gunshots rang out as law enforcement officials moved to detain Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who faces an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant on charges of crimes against humanity. Multiple witnesses, including a correspondent from the Associated Press on site, confirmed the burst of gunfire, though authorities have not yet clarified what triggered the shooting or reported any confirmed casualties from the incident.
dela Rosa, a 64-year-old former chief of the Philippine National Police, has been sheltering in the Senate under the protective custody of political allies since an earlier failed arrest attempt earlier this week. The ICC unsealed its original November 2024 arrest warrant for the senator on Monday, formally charging him with crimes against humanity specifically for the murder of no fewer than 32 people between July 2016 and April 2018. This period coincided with dela Rosa’s leadership of the national police during the brutal anti-drug crackdown launched by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, a campaign that left thousands of mostly low-level drug suspects dead nationwide.
Within hours of Wednesday’s gunfire incident, Senate President Alan Cayetano made a brief, tense appearance before waiting reporters on site. He confirmed that building security had alerted him to the shooting, but offered no further details before exiting quickly. “Emotions are running extremely high here,” Cayetano told reporters, adding “This is the Senate of the Philippines, and we are allegedly under attack.” He previously threatened to hold National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents in contempt after they attempted to take dela Rosa into custody on Monday, an effort that failed when the senator fled to the Senate plenary hall and appealed for protection from his legislative colleagues.
dela Rosa has publicly rejected the ICC’s charges, vowing to use every available legal channel to fight the arrest order. Ahead of Wednesday’s planned arrest attempt, he called on his supporters to gather outside the Senate compound to block what he described as his impending unlawful detention. Political observers note the incident marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the Philippine legislative branch and international legal authorities, raising questions about the government’s willingness to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation into the Duterte-era drug war killings.