OAN Staff Jenna Lee
6:14 PM – Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Chaos erupted within the Philippine Senate on Wednesday evening as gunfire and explosions resonated through the halls of the Pasay City complex, interrupting a live session at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The violence broke out shortly after Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a prominent ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, announced via a live broadcast that authorities were approaching the building to execute an arrest warrant.
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The warrant, issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), is linked to dela Rosa’s leadership role during the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs.” While officials confirmed that no injuries occurred during the incident, the exact source and intent of the gunfire remain under investigation, leaving the capital in a state of high tension as the standoff between Senate security and law enforcement continues.
Senate President Alan Cayetano made a brief appearance before journalists in the Senate not long after the shots rang out, saying “The emotions are high here. This is the Senate of the Philippines, and we are allegedly under attack.”
Established in 2002 to prosecute senior officials for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, the ICC originally issued an arrest warrant for Senator dela Rosa in late 2025. The charges center on the alleged murder of at least 32 individuals between July 2016 and April 2018, a period during which dela Rosa commanded the Philippine National Police under the Duterte administration.
After several months in hiding, the senator resurfaced this week, successfully evading agents who attempted to serve the warrant within the Senate complex. Defying the international order, dela Rosa has pledged to resist the ICC and called upon his supporters to assemble at the Senate on Wednesday night to block his imminent detention.
“I am calling on you to please help me, let us not allow them to take another Filipino to The Hague, second to president Duterte,” he wrote.
The former Philippine president currently remains in detention at the ICC headquarters in The Hague. These proceedings also name dela Rosa as a co-accused in the systematic killings.
Last year, the court’s judges rejected a motion from the defense to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds following the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
The court ruled that member states cannot exploit the right of withdrawal to shield individuals from accountability for crimes that were already under formal consideration by the tribunal. Amid these international legal developments, dela Rosa’s legal team has filed a petition with the Philippine Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the arrest warrant and block its enforcement within the country.
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