The Senate on Monday approved a motion placing Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa under the chamber’s protective custody, as senators moved to shield their colleague from a reported International Criminal Court arrest warrant while keeping open his access to legal remedies.
The motion, filed by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, was granted as a precautionary measure — allowing Dela Rosa to remain within Senate grounds while he and his legal team navigate the rapidly developing situation. The protective custody order effectively insulates him from any attempt by law enforcement to execute an arrest inside the chamber.
The vote came on the same day Dela Rosa made his first appearance in the Senate in nearly six months, arriving visibly injured after allegedly wrestling his way past National Bureau of Investigation agents who he claimed tried to block him from entering. CCTV footage captured NBI personnel chasing Dela Rosa and his staff inside the premises, an incident that prompted newly installed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano to declare the agents in contempt and order them detained by the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who accompanied NBI officials to the Senate, maintained that the warrant they carried was validly issued by the ICC, identifying Dela Rosa as a co-perpetrator of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity case linked to the drug war.
The ICC itself had said as recently as Saturday that no public arrest warrants had been issued in relation to the Philippines — though the court has previously kept warrants sealed until the moment of execution, as it did with Duterte’s arrest in March 2025. Dela Rosa had previously said he would seek the Senate’s protection if an ICC warrant were issued against him, adding, “Hanggang saan kaya protektahan ako ng Senado, dun lang ako. ‘Pag sabihin nila ‘hindi na kaya, you have to surrender yourself,’ I will turn in myself peacefully.”
