Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday, 3 October, admitted ignoring calls from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC looking into the alleged killings linked to the drug war spearheaded by former President Rodrigo Duterte named dela Rosa as "possible suspects" in its investigation.

Dela Rosa served as the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief from 2016 to 2018. During his stint, he made headlines regularly as he led the controversial drug war and "Oplan Tokhang" operations throughout the country.

"Mayroong nag-contact sa opisina pero in-ignore namin (There are people who were contacting our office but we are ignoring them)," Dela Rosa confessed to the press after filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator.

In his defense, he explained that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines as the country officially left the ICC membership in 2019.

"May kumokontak sa opisina ko pero inignore namin. Hindi namin kinakausap. Baka mamaya mga g*go lang na taong yun sumasakay sa issue (Someone contacted my office, but we ignored them. We didn't talk to them. Maybe it's just one of the stupid people riding on the issue)," Dela Rosa said.

"Gagawa ng pangalan na kunwari European daw sila na gustong mag-interview sa akin. Sabay-sabay e, pagsabi ni [Sonny] Trillanes nung issue na yan, mayroon nang tawag nang tawag sa amin. Sabi ko, wag niyong intindihin yan dahil baka mga t*rantado lang yan na sumasakay sa issue (They will make a name to pretend that they are Europeans who want to interview me. It's during the time when Trillanes talked about the issues, we received a lot of calls. I told my staff, don't answer them, maybe they are just rowdy people riding on the issue)," he added.

Trillanes earlier posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account a supposed redacted copy of an order by the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor, naming Dela Rosa and four other PNP ranking officials as suspects in the international court's probe.