As legal pressure mounts on Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa following the Supreme Court’s 9-5-1 rejection of his bid to block an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, his wife has broken her silence with a direct and emotional appeal to the Philippine judiciary.
Grace Nancy Dela Rosa, in a statement posted on social media, urged judges not to allow the senator’s transfer to The Hague — invoking national sovereignty and calling on the courts to stand firm against what she framed as political interference.
“Granting the people in power permission to voluntary surrender another Filipino is an admission that you are weak and INCAPABLE of handling this case, thus the need for an international court to intervene. You are a group of great minds. This is just another case sensationalized only by Politics. Please do not waver or give in. Please,” she wrote.
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed its warrant against Dela Rosa on May 11, 2026, having originally issued it under seal on November 6, 2025. The warrant covers the period from July 3, 2016, to the end of April 2018, during which at least 32 persons were killed. The ICC alleged that Dela Rosa was involved in creating a network of perpetrators responsible for carrying out systematic killings under the drug war, and that he recruited individuals he could trust and control.
Dela Rosa is charged as an indirect co-perpetrator — the same legal classification applied to former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been in ICC custody since March 2025.
Nancy Dela Rosa drew a pointed contrast between the two administrations in her appeal. “If we must learn from the Duterte case, it is that, NOT to give up another Filipino!!!” she wrote, adding that Duterte “went to great lengths to bring every Filipino home, even the convicted ones,” while the current government was now doing the opposite.
She also urged the courts to act quickly, warning that every day without a decision narrowed the window to protect her husband. “We do not have the luxury of time to wait for your technical arguments and debates. Every moment you remain undecided is an opportunity for them to close in on Bato,” the statement read.
The Supreme Court clarified that its ruling only addressed the request for interim relief, and that broader legal questions — including whether Philippine authorities can enforce an ICC warrant without a corresponding local court warrant, and whether the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute affects enforcement — remain unresolved in the main case.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida has said that authorities will “definitely” seek to arrest Dela Rosa and execute the ICC warrant. The Department of Justice had earlier said it would only act after all legal issues were resolved by the Supreme Court.
Dela Rosa’s whereabouts remain unknown. He had been in hiding for months before briefly resurfacing at the Senate on May 11, the same day the ICC warrant was made public.
