Gunshots heard in Philippine Senate, where senator wanted by ICC is resisting arrest

By Kathleen Magramo, Lauren Kent, Jinky Jorgio, CNN

(CNN) — Gunshots have been heard in the Philippine Senate building, Senate authorities said on Wednesday, as a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court is holed up in the building to resist arrest.

It is unclear who fired the shots in the incident, and no casualties have been reported, multiple senators told reporters on Wednesday night.

“I don’t know what is happening. I do not know if I can keep my people safe here,” recently installed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano said in a Facebook livestream from inside the Senate complex in the immediate aftermath of the gunshots. “I’m willing to face anyone who is going to serve the warrant … but do not do this.”

It comes after Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, a longtime ally of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, was captured on CCTV running from local agents through the halls of the Senate earlier on Monday. When local investigative unit officers failed to arrest the 64-year-old, having pursued him through the bowels of parliament, riot police surrounded the Senate compound.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuse Dela Rosa of conspiring with Duterte in alleged crimes against humanity, during a brutal anti-drug campaign that killed thousands. On Monday, the ICC confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for him, citing incidents in which 32 people were killed between 2016 to 2018.

Dela Rosa has not left the Senate compound since Monday.

The Philippines country’s Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Jonvic Remulla entered the Senate building on Wednesday night, as Senate President Cayetano – also considered an ally of Duterte – allowed him to go inside. Remulla told local media that all senators inside the building are safe and he is working to determine who fired the shots.

Remulla has assured Dela Rosa that he will not be served with an arrest warrant. The interior secretary also said that Dela Rosa will remain in the building as authorities do a security sweep.

Meanwhile, police have entered the Senate building and ordered all reporters and other personnel to leave, local journalists told CNN. Senate security staff have put down the building’s steel door to lock themselves inside after reporters moved outside.

In a later Facebook livestream, Cayetano said that “so far everyone is safe,” including Dela Rosa, adding that Senate authorities are still investigating the source of the gunfire and will allow people to leave “when we’re sure they are not suspects.”

Dela Rosa holed up since Monday

Prior to the shooting incident, Dela Rosa had holed up in the Senate building for two nights, pleading in a livestreamed press conference on Facebook not to be sent to The Hague in the Netherlands to face charges.

He reiterated his position that the ICC has no jurisdiction to arrest him without approval from the local Supreme Court. Appearing teary-eyed when asked about the possibility of being arrested, lawmaker said it was “the lowest point of my life.”

“I will face it, as long as they follow the proper process. If there is a legitimate warrant of arrest, they should bring it before the local court. Let’s discuss it, and we will face it,” he said on Tuesday.

Such circumvention of due process is part of what Duterte and Dela Rosa stand accused of.

Wanted for alleged crimes against humanity in war on drugs

Dela Rosa, who goes by the moniker “Bato” which translates to “Rock,” hails from the Davao region in southern Philippines and has long been a loyal sidekick of Duterte. The former police officer rose to fame thanks to his close relationship with the strongman leader, who ruled the Philippines with an iron fist from 2016 to 2022, a period marked by the brutal war on drugs.

Dela Rosa served as police chief when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, where police would allegedly coerce low-level dealers to surrender themselves then execute them, a tactic known as “oplan tokhang.”

For more than two decades, the anti-drug operation was enacted across Davao. Extrajudicial killings spread across the country when Duterte became president and Dela Rosa ascended the upper echelons of the national police force, according to Human Rights Watch.

The ICC arrest warrant alleges that Dela Rosa used his position as national police chief to implement “tokhang”-style killings nationally during Duterte’s presidency, allegations which he has repeatedly denied.

In an interview with CNN in 2016, Dela Rosa said that police officers kill suspected drug dealers “if it endangers our lives.”

More than 6,000 people were killed in anti-drug operations after Duterte took office, according to police data. Many of the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders happened in the poorest areas of the country – and independent monitors believe the number of those killed could be much higher.

Duterte himself was dramatically arrested at Manila’s international airport in March 2025 and was put on a plane to The Hague, where he remains in ICC custody. A start date for his trial has not yet been set.

Duterte has long denied the accusations of human rights abuses and contends that drug issues should be settled by domestic law enforcement. He has repeatedly said he will not kowtow to the foreign jurisdiction of the ICC.

The Philippines was a signatory to the ICC, but Duterte canceled its membership after the court began probing his drug war. However, under the ICC’s withdrawal mechanism, the court keeps jurisdiction over crimes committed during the membership – in this case, between 2016 and 2019, when the Philippines’ pullout became official.

As speculation swirled for months that an ICC warrant was on the way, Dela Rosa had not appeared in public.

But he reappeared publicly on Monday in the Senate building, seemingly to participate in the latest episode in a long-running saga between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of Rodrigo Duterte.

Two things happened on Monday. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president on a range of accusations that include misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and plotting to assassinate the president. She now awaits trial at the Senate; if they kick her out, it will end her presidential run for 2028.

To aid the Duterte clan’s political survival, Dela Rosa and other senators voted to oust the chamber’s president, installing Duterte ally Cayetano to lead the Senate.

Not long after the vote, Dela Rosa was placed under “protective custody,” according to government-run Philippine News Agency, effectively shielding him from the threat of arrest.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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