P50-M bounty; ultimatum set
INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla (middle) announced a P50-million bounty for capturing Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ (inset) dela Rosa and the creation of a dedicated task force to locate and arrest him during a press conference at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Photograph courtesy of PNP/DAILY TRIBUNE IMAGES
The government has intensified the manhunt for Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the drug war during the Duterte administration.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla announced a P50-million reward for the capture of Dela Rosa, whom the ICC wants for crimes against humanity, charges former President Rodrigo Duterte is also facing. Remulla gave Dela Rosa a week to surrender.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. echoed the ultimatum against the legislator.
He said the authorities are preparing to implement the arrest warrant, emphasizing they will seek a peaceful surrender but are prepared to respond appropriately if necessary.
Remulla announced the reward at a press conference at the PNP headquarters on Friday. He said Dela Rosa is considered “armed and dangerous.”
“As of today, Senator Bato will be considered armed and dangerous. We are placing a bounty of P50 million for his capture,” Remulla said.
The reward will come from the DILG and the PNP Intelligence Fund, he said.
Dela Rosa served as PNP chief from 2016 to 2018, then won a Senate seat in 2019 and was reelected in 2025. He has denied involvement in the killings of drug suspects when Duterte was president.
Remulla said the government had extended Dela Rosa every courtesy due his being a senator. “But he has shown nothing but cowardice by remaining in hiding. Senator Bato mistook my negotiation as a sign of weakness. It’s time to bring justice to his victims,” he said.
He said a task force led by Gen. Wilson Lopez has been formed with one objective: to find and arrest Dela Rosa. “Further updates will come from General Lopez in the coming days,” Remulla said.
Warrant only from ICC
The ICC warrant against Dela Rosa will turn a year old next month. ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued it confidentially, under seal, on 6 November 2025. The court unsealed it on 11 May 2026.
The warrant names Dela Rosa as an “indirect co-perpetrator” of the crime against humanity of murder, covering the period from 3 July 2016 to the end of April 2018, with at least 32 people killed.
The court also noted that he allegedly threatened a prosecution investigator and called those cooperating with the ICC “traitors.”
He is the second Filipino official with a confirmed ICC warrant. Former president Duterte, who launched the drug war, was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in March 2025 and flown to The Hague where he remains in ICC detention.
Human rights groups and the ICC prosecutor put the death toll from the anti-drug campaign at between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.
Hunt timeline
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, the interior secretary’s brother, first said on 8 November 2025 that the ICC had issued the warrant. The ICC at first denied this. De la Rosa has not attended Senate sessions since 11 November 2025.
Dela Rosa reappeared at the Senate on 13 May after six months in hiding. He arrived in time to vote in a leadership change that ousted Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents tried to serve the warrant, and a chase up a staircase followed. The Senate went on lockdown, and Dela Rosa was placed under the chamber’s “protective custody.”
Dela Rosa left the Senate building in Senator Robin Padilla’s vehicle before dawn on 14 May, and he has not been seen since.
Dela Rosa’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order against his arrest. They argued that only a Philippine court can order it. They also argued that the ICC has no authority because the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019.
Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe countered that a withdrawal “does not relieve a state party from cooperating in proceedings already initiated before the ICC.” The ICC prosecutor opened a preliminary examination of the drug war in 2018.
The Supreme Court denied the request for a TRO by a 9-5-1 vote. Its ruling addressed only the plea for interim relief, not the petition’s merits.