Shots fired inside Philippine Senate during standoff over ICC arrest warrant
Shots were fired inside the Philippine Senate during a standoff over the possible arrest of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his role in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, according to local media. No injuries were reported.
The shooting happened Wednesday night on the second floor of the Senate building in Manila, according to The Philippine Star. Police and military personnel searched the premises as authorities tried to determine who fired the shots and why.
Dela Rosa, a former national police chief and one of Duterte’s closest allies, is accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity for killings during the drug war, in which thousands of suspected drug offenders were shot dead. Duterte has been held in The Hague since March 2025, according to BBC News.
The incident followed a Supreme Court decision that did not block Dela Rosa’s arrest. Instead, the court ordered the government to respond within 72 hours to his petition seeking to stop his arrest and transfer to the ICC.
Dela Rosa had earlier said he believed his arrest was imminent and urged Filipinos to prevent it, according to BBC News. Officials later said he was safe and with security personnel.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addressed the country after the gunfire, saying uniformed personnel seen in videos from the building were part of the Senate’s own security forces and had not entered from outside.
“The government did not do this,” Marcos said, according to The Philippine Star. He also said there were no National Bureau of Investigation agents at the Senate and called for calm while officials looked into what happened.
Marcos said he had instructed the NBI not to arrest Dela Rosa after the Supreme Court order was issued. The NBI, which had received the ICC arrest warrant, also denied that its agents were at the Senate when the gunfire was heard.
Philippine police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said more than 1,500 officers were securing the Senate premises, but said no police officers were inside the building when the shooting happened except security personnel assigned to some senators. Officials did not immediately identify who fired the shots.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
