ICC arrest imminent for Duterte’s Philippine drugs war ally Dela Rosa: ombudsman

Last Updated on November 8, 2025 5:29 pm

Philippine Senator Ronald Dela Rosa takes a selfie with Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters in Davao City on March 28. Photo: Reuters

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Philippine Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, who oversaw then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, according to the nation’s ombudsman, although the ICC denied the assertion.

Duterte, in office from 2016 to 2022, was arrested and taken to The Hague in March on a warrant linking him to murders committed during his war on drugs, in which thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed.

“The ICC has issued a warrant against Senator Dela Rosa,” Philippine Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla told DZRH radio station on Saturday. “This is an extraditable offence.”