Lawyers for Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa have asked the Supreme Court to immediately halt any attempt to detain him without a Philippine judicial warrant, as chaos gripped the Senate on Monday after National Bureau of Investigation agents allegedly pursued the senator inside the chamber’s premises.
The Law Firm of Torreon & Partners said it filed an urgent manifestation with an omnibus motion before the Supreme Court seeking clarity on the legal standing of an alleged International Criminal Court warrant. The petition asks the high court to bar “any arrest, detention, turnover, transfer, rendition, or surrender of Senator Dela Rosa without a valid Philippine judicial warrant,” the firm said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The legal action came on the same day Dela Rosa ended a nearly six-month absence from the Senate, returning to attend the plenary session that saw Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano installed as the new Senate president — a vote Dela Rosa helped deliver. His last appearance before Monday had been November 10 last year.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was also at the Senate, presenting documents he identified as a copy of the ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, dated November 5, 2025. NBI personnel who accompanied Trillanes were said to be in possession of the warrant and attempted to effect the arrest on Senate grounds. The attempt drew fierce resistance from Dela Rosa, who told reporters he had been “wrestled” by agents and sustained injuries. CCTV footage later released by Senate leadership showed agents pursuing Dela Rosa and his staff inside the building.
The ICC, however, said as recently as Saturday that it has not issued any public arrest warrants in connection with the Philippines. “No public arrest warrants have been issued,” ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said. The DOJ echoed this on Monday, with spokesperson Atty. Polo Martinez saying the department “has not seen or received a copy of any alleged warrant.”
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla also cast doubt on whether the warrant had been properly served. “Please ask him if the warrant has been legally served,” Remulla said in a text message to reporters, also noting that Trillanes “is not part of the PCTC” — a reference to the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, to which Trillanes said he had forwarded a copy of the document.
Dela Rosa’s legal team argued that a Criminal Investigation and Detection Group subpoena served Monday could not lawfully substitute for a judicial arrest warrant. “A subpoena cannot be used as a convenient pretext to physically bring a person to Camp Crame while the Government awaits a possible international warrant or notice,” the firm said. “That is not legitimate law enforcement. It is a surrogate arrest mechanism.”
Philippine National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said the PNP would defer to the Senate on matters affecting its internal proceedings and schedules.
The Senate placed Dela Rosa under protective custody following the confrontation, with Sen. Rodante Marcoleta moving for the measure and the body approving it without objection. The chamber also went on lockdown and cited the NBI agents present inside the premises in contempt.
Dela Rosa’s lawyers pointed to the speed with which former President Rodrigo Duterte was taken out of the country after his ICC arrest in March 2025 as the basis for urgency. “In such a situation, judicial review may become practically difficult, if not ineffectual, once foreign custody is effected,” the firm said — warning the Supreme Court that the window for intervention could close rapidly if executive action moved ahead. It was Ombudsman Remulla who first announced on November 8, 2025, that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Dela Rosa, a disclosure that preceded the senator’s prolonged absence from the chamber. Dela Rosa, as former PNP chief, is among those named by the ICC as alleged co-perpetrators in the crimes against humanity case against Duterte.
