The petition filed by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s legal team to block his ICC arrest warrant has drawn sharp criticism from former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo III, who argued the lawyers chose entirely the wrong legal remedy from the start.
Speaking on SMNI on May 22, Panelo said the correct approach would have been to file a writ of habeas corpus directly before the Supreme Court, rather than resorting to certiorari, amparo, a temporary restraining order, and injunction — the remedies his lawyers ultimately pursued.
“Kay Senator Dela Rosa at sa abogado niya, I told you so. Mali ang finile ninyo. Hindi dapat certiorari, amparo, TRO at injunction. Dapat ang finile ninyo ay habeas corpus,” Panelo said.
His remarks came days after the Supreme Court, in a special En Banc session on May 20, voted 9-5-1 to deny Dela Rosa’s prayer for a TRO and/or status quo ante order against the ICC arrest warrant.
The High Court clarified that it only resolved the requests for interim relief and has yet to rule on the main legal issues raised in the petition, including whether Philippine officers may enforce an ICC warrant without a domestic judicial warrant and whether such enforcement remains valid given the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
Dela Rosa faces charges as an indirect co-perpetrator in ICC crimes against humanity proceedings linked to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. The warrant, originally issued under seal on November 6, 2025, was publicly unsealed on May 11, 2026, with Dela Rosa tied to the deaths of at least 32 individuals allegedly killed between July 2016 and April 2018 during the administration’s “Oplan Double Barrel” drug operations.
In his filings, Dela Rosa had asked the Supreme Court to automatically convert his petition into a writ of habeas corpus the moment he is arrested, on the grounds that no domestic court has issued a warrant against him. That was not enough to satisfy Panelo, who maintained that a habeas corpus petition should have been the primary vehicle from the outset — not a fallback provision buried in the pleadings.
The Office of the Solicitor General, in a 74-page comment dated May 16, branded Dela Rosa a “fugitive from justice” and urged the Court to allow the government to proceed with his arrest so he could stand trial before the ICC.
