Philippine Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa slipped out of the Senate compound in the early hours of Thursday, May 14, hours after a burst of gunfire shook the legislative building in Manila and threw the country into a fresh political crisis.
The dramatic escape came as authorities had been seeking to arrest him on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged crimes against humanity.
An official from the Senate secretariat confirmed that dela Rosa was no longer on the premises, saying he had left the building at around 2.30 a.m. Thursday.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano later confirmed at a press conference that dela Rosa’s wife had also informed the Senate speaker of his departure via text message.
Gunfire and chaos inside the Senate
The pandemonium unfolded on Wednesday evening when dozens of journalists were filming and broadcasting from the second floor of the legislative building when loud bangs were suddenly heard, sending people scrambling for cover in scenes captured on live television.
No one was reported hurt, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr appealed to the public to remain calm in televised remarks.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground said that about 15 shots were fired and that security forces were forced to pull back before ordering the evacuation of the building. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots.
Forensic investigators arrived hours later, with videos showing one windowpane riddled with at least a dozen bullet holes. Dela Rosa’s lawyer denied speculation that the shooting was a diversion tactic to help his client escape.
Philippine President Marcos held an emergency meeting with government and security chiefs on Thursday. Police spokesperson Randulf Tuano said one person had been arrested following the shooting and that investigations were under way.
A senator on the run from the ICC
Dela Rosa, 64, is the former national police chief who oversaw former President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs”, during which police say more than 6,000 suspected drug dealers were killed in official operations between 2016 and 2018.
The ICC unsealed his arrest warrant on Monday. Originally issued in November, the warrant charges dela Rosa with the crime against humanity of murder of “no less than 32 persons” between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, when he led the national police force under Duterte.
Dela Rosa had not appeared in public since November, amid growing speculation that an ICC warrant was imminent. When the warrant was confirmed, he sought a temporary restraining order against it from the Philippine Supreme Court.
He reappeared at the Senate on Monday, whereupon National Bureau of Investigation agents attempted to arrest him.
He managed to dash to the Senate’s plenary hall and sought the protection of fellow senators, with security camera footage capturing him running through the corridors and stairwells of the building.
Hours before the shooting erupted on Wednesday, dela Rosa had appealed to his supporters via Facebook, calling on them to gather at the Senate to prevent what he described as his imminent arrest.
“I am appealing to you. I hope you can help me. Do not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague,” he said.
‘A national embarrassment’
Several lawmakers wasted no time in condemning both the chaos inside the Senate and dela Rosa’s subsequent escape, with members of the Makabayan bloc describing the situation as a “monumental injustice” to victims of the drug war.
“This is not a mere procedural lapse. This is a national embarrassment and a clear demonstration of how impunity works in practice when the accused is powerful and well-connected,” they said in a statement.
Dela Rosa, who has repeatedly denied involvement in the illegal killings, told DZBB radio on Thursday morning that he would “exhaust all available remedies” to block his transfer to the ICC.
Duterte was arrested in March last year and flown to the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague, where he remains in detention awaiting trial over the killings from his drug crackdown — a campaign in which dela Rosa has also been implicated.
