Between May 11 and 13, 2026, attempts to arrest Senator Ronald dela Rosa, for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant on charges of crimes against humanity related to the Philippine drug war, caused disorder in the Senate of the Philippines following his sudden return, during which he was involved in a chase with agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who had entered the Senate chamber to serve the warrant.
On May 13, tensions escalated when gunfire was heard inside the GSIS Building, where the Senate meets, during dela Rosa's evasion of arrest, coinciding with the transmission of the articles of impeachment against Sara Duterte to the Senate in the presence of the media. The Senate was subsequently placed on lockdown. Most of the gunfire consisted of warning shots fired by members of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), the Senate's security office, led by Mao Aplasca, after alleged NBI agents entered the premises. No casualties were reported during the incident. In the early hours of the following morning, dela Rosa left the Senate premises with Senator Robin Padilla and retired colonel Jean Alia Robles, Padilla's deputy chief of staff, and was driven to Makati.
NBI director Melvin Matibag denied the presence of NBI agents inside the Senate premises, stating that 18 NBI agents were stationed at the GSIS compound solely at the request of the director of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to secure the premises outside the Senate. He added that an NBI agent was "forced" to fire six warning shots from outside the building after the initial shots fired by the OSAA. Investigations into the incident by several agencies are ongoing. The May 13 shooting incident has been described as both "embarrassing" and a "national disgrace" because of the unprecedented violence at a democratic institution and the Senate's alleged obstruction in protecting a fugitive from international law.
Background On October 3, 2024, Senator Ronald dela Rosa filed his candidacy for the 2025 Philippine Senate elections under the Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP). Following the former president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest, dela Rosa declared he is willing to join Duterte in The Hague if all legal remedies are exhausted. However, Dela Rosa went to an undisclosed location within the Philippines. He has considered hiding from authorities. He was re-elected as senator in May 2025, placing third in the official results, with 20,773,946 of votes.
On November 11, 2025, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla disclosed that he had received an "unofficial" copy of an ICC arrest warrant against dela Rosa for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the Philippine drug war during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte. Dela Rosa's ally and former president Rodrigo Duterte had been detained in The Hague since 2025 while awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity. On February 13, 2026, the ICC identified dela Rosa and seven others as indirect co-perpetrators in Duterte's alleged crimes against humanity. On May 9, 2026, the ICC denied reports in Philippine media claiming that it had publicly issued an arrest warrant against dela Rosa. By then, dela Rosa had been absent from the Senate since November 11, 2025.
Prior events Return of dela Rosa and Senate leadership election
On May 11, 2026, dela Rosa suddenly showed up at the Senate session, his first attendance since November 2025, to participate in the May 2026 President of the Senate of the Philippines election, in which incumbent Senate president Tito Sotto was defeated by Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano. Thirteen senators supported his candidacy, including dela Rosa; nine supported maintaining Sotto as president; and two abstained, leading Cayetano to win the presidency. Former Senator Antonio Trillanes and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also came to the Senate to implement the ICC warrant against dela Rosa. Dela Rosa claimed that there were NBI agents trying to stop him from entering the ongoing session. "When I am absent, you look for me. Now, I am showing you here: I was blocked by the NBI, they wrestled me, and I ended up with these wounds. This is the Senate. They have no respect for the institution of the Senate. Why is the NBI like that?", dela Rosa told reporters. He said that he sustained scratches on his hands and wrestled with the agents. CCTV footage revealed that dela Rosa was running away from NBI agents as he entered the Senate building, but he had not wrestled with them, with dela Rosa later admitting that his hands were injured from tripping on a stairwell. During the session, Cayetano said that "no senator was allowed to be arrested ever in Senate premises," which was proven false by The Philippine Star.
Initially, dela Rosa was walking to the session hall, but when he noticed someone pursuing him, he started to run. Dela Rosa said that the NBI blocked him from going up, so he evaded them and ran up the stairs. According to NBI Director Melvin Matibag, two female NBI agents were serving the warrant to dela Rosa at the basement entrance of the Senate when dela Rosa pushed them to evade arrest, with the two giving chase to the senator in the building; dela Rosa later admitted that he did not see any handcuffs when the two agents approached him. In an opinion piece, Herbie Gomez of Rappler reported that dela Rosa "charged toward the Senate session hall in visible panic, scrambling up the staircase with such desperation that his aides could barely keep up." On the staircase, he stumbled and came close to hitting his head on the concrete. The Senate then gave Senate protection to dela Rosa from the ICC, despite contestation from former Senator Franklin Drilon, commenting, "[t]here is no law which says that a senator can be protected or exempt from a warrant of arrest." Trillanes in the session showed reporters an ICC warrant for dela Rosa, the first page having the words "secret" and an image of dela Rosa. Trillanes added that he accompanied the NBI agents, stating, "we will not let Bato leave." It was later confirmed that the ICC had, in fact, issued a warrant of arrest against dela Rosa. Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said that the document Trillanes was holding was a correspondence from the ICC to the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, but he added that, since they were not part of the treaty, local police could not enforce a warrant to dela Rosa unless it was coursed through Interpol. Dela Rosa ended up staying in the office at the senate that night, and the Senate was placed under lockdown, with barbed wire placed at the entrances.
Regarding how dela Rosa entered the Senate, Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed in a May 13, 2026 interview with DZBB that dela Rosa had arrived at the chamber using a vehicle linked to Senator Pia Cayetano. Lacson stated that, according to his information, only two senators were aware of dela Rosa's return and that he had reportedly ridden in Cayetano's vehicle before entering the Senate complex. Later, dela Rosa, in a separate interview with Balitanghali, said only Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was aware that he would arrive. He also said he did not know who owned the vehicle he rode in going to the Senate. Thereafter, during the Senate plenary session, Senator Pia Cayetano denied Senator Lacson's earlier remarks. She said that "Senator dela Rosa did not ride in my vehicle, nor did I have anything to do with facilitating his presence in the Senate last Monday". Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano then clarified that dela Rosa did not ride in Senator Pia Cayetano's vehicle but instead entered the Senate using his vehicle.
May 12 On May 12, 2026, Senators Sotto, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Kiko Pangilinan, and Bam Aquino filed a resolution urging dela Rosa to surrender to the ICC, stating that accountability should not regard rank and instead be equal to all politicians and that the Senate could not provide "protective custody" from "lawful arrest." Alan Peter Cayetano defended dela Rosa and rejected their resolution. In the Senate session, Sotto said that he told the NBI agents when dela Rosa came to the Senate that they were to coordinate with the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) as they "know the rules"; he also expected dela Rosa to have a different perspective. He then denied his involvement in the NBI chase for dela Rosa, denying allegations that he coordinated with the NBI and let them inside the building. In a radio interview, Lacson confirmed that dela Rosa was effectively contained in the Senate chamber. Dela Rosa appealed to President Bongbong Marcos not to enforce an ICC warrant against him and send him to The Hague, urging supporters and military personnel to stand behind him and to not accept his possible extradition. Malacañang eventually replied to his request, saying "[h]e's entitled to rights if arrest happens." Dela Rosa's legal counsel requested the Supreme Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order against the possible arrest while supporters of dela Rosa and Duterte organized prayer vigils and demonstrations outside the Senate complex.
Pangilinan, then chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, scheduled a meeting with farmers from Benguet for May 12 to discuss rising fuel prices, but the loss of his seat and the change of Senate leadership led to the cancellation of the meeting. Hontiveros also lost her chairmanships of the Senate committees on Women, Health, and Electoral Reforms, which led to the disruption of multiple bills she sponsored. Pangilinan and Cayetano then debated over Senate rules on committee leadership; Pangilinan proposed suspending the rules with voting to allow people with former posts to continue working through the week, but Cayetano argued that Section 19 of the Senate rules stated they "shall cease when their successors shall have been elected or designated." The debate turned lengthy, with former Senate President Francis Escudero siding with Cayetano and Lacson offering a compromise. The only person to obtain a chairmanship was dela Rosa, who was assigned the chair of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
Lockdown and shooting in the Senate Lockdown
On May 13, 2026, at 16:00PHT, dela Rosa sang parts of the Philippine Military Academy hymn as an appeal for "peaceful support" to his former colleagues, rejecting calls for surrender. Hours later, the Supreme Court of the Philippines did not accept a request by dela Rosa for a halt order against his arrest and did not accept a temporary restraining order for him. Eventually, dela Rosa was included in the ICC wanted list, with the website listing him "at-large". Mid-session, dela Rosa had abruptly left the plenary hall and told his supporters minutes later to hold a prayer vigil for him and reported that he was going to be arrested by NBI agents in a Facebook live video at 18:23PHT.