Metro Manila, Philippines – The International Criminal Court has confirmed that the arrest warrant circulated in the media against Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is an authentic document and reclassified the document from ‘secret’ to ‘public’.
“The International Criminal Court confirms that the document published by national authorities of the Republic of the Philippines and circulated in the media is indeed a formal ICC document,” ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet told reporters on Monday, May 11.
“This arrest warrant against Mr Ronald Marapon dela Rosa was issued confidentially, under seal, by Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC on 6 November 2025,” she added.
Maillet said the ICC is “currently in the process of unsealing the warrant of arrest.”
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued the arrest warrant against Dela Rosa last year over alleged crimes against humanity tied to the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
The warrant identified Dela Rosa as an alleged “indirect co-perpetrator” under the Rome Statute for the crime against humanity of murder.
The ICC said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Dela Rosa, together with other senior officials and police officers, participated in a common plan to “neutralise” alleged criminals in the Philippines from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.
According to the warrant, the word “neutralise” was allegedly understood by those involved to mean “kill.”
The chamber also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that members of Philippine law enforcement, along with non-police assets and hired hitmen, killed “no less than 32 persons” between July 2016 and April 2018.
The document cited Dela Rosa’s alleged role in implementing and expanding anti-drug operations nationwide as former Philippine National Police chief.
The ICC also said Dela Rosa made public statements “authorising, condoning and promoting the killing of alleged criminals,” appointed key police officials to carry out operations, and encouraged police officers to legitimize killings through “fictitious self-defense scenarios.”
The chamber said Dela Rosa’s arrest was necessary to ensure his appearance before the court and to prevent possible obstruction of investigations and threats against witnesses.
“The Chamber is satisfied that the arrest of Mr Dela Rosa is necessary,” the warrant read.
Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV claimed to possess a copy of the ICC arrest warrant against Dela Rosa when he showed up at the Senate after the senator resurfaced publicly following months out of public view.
