A senator from the Philippines has taken refuge inside the country’s parliament after the International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant regarding his role in the Philippines’ deadly drug war.

Ronald Dela Rosa was pictured by local media fleeing into the Senate building on Monday, as police sought to detain him.

The warrant, which had been held under seal since November, was spurred by the former police chief’s role in ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs, which prosecutors ‌say killed tens of thousands during his time in office from 2016-2022.

The ICC confirmed on Monday evening that the warrant had been issued confidentially on November 6. It charges Dela Rosa as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the “crime against humanity of murder”.

The former police chief is accused of responsibility for killings carried out between July 2016 and April 2018.

Fleeing

Duterte is accused of having created, funded, and armed death squads to kill suspected narcotics dealers and users during his time as president.

The former head of state was arrested and taken to The Hague by the ICC in March 2025. Charges of crimes against humanity were confirmed in April this year.

The ICC has named eight co-perpetrators in the case, including Dela Rosa, who ran the Philippine National Police during the height of the drug war, and oversaw operations that human rights groups say killed tens of thousands.