MANILA, Philippines – Acting Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Fredderick Vida announced on Thursday, May 21, that the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are now ordered to arrest Senator Bato dela Rosa.

“I would like to confirm, one, [that] the Philippine law enforcement agencies, which would include the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation, are now tasked to effect the arrest of Senator Bato dela Rosa,” said Vida in a press conference on Thursday, May 21.

“Senator Bato is a fugitive from justice and he should be brought to the ICC (International Criminal Court) to face the charges before him,” he added.

Dela Rosa is facing a crimes against humanity case at the ICC due to his alleged involvement in the Davao Death Squad and war on drugs killings. He went into hiding from November 2025 until last May 11, when he reappeared at the Senate to back Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s election.

For three days, Dela Rosa hid inside the Senate building until the shooting chaos — triggered by his mistah Senate sergeant-at-arms Mao Aplasca — ensued on the night of May 13. Hours later, Dela Rosa escaped from the Senate at around 2:30 am with his ally Senator Robin Padilla.

Dela Rosa, as of writing, remains at-large.

Vida announced the order to arrest Dela Rosa a day after the Supreme Court denied the senator’s request for a temporary restraining order to block his warrant. On Wednesday, the NBI said it is ready to conduct a manhunt operation against the former PNP chief.

But the acting justice secretary refused to use the word “manhunt”.

He said, “Manhunt is a dramatic or zarsuela word. They will effect the arrest warrant.”

How then will the NBI and PNP arrest Dela Rosa?

“You know, our law enforcement agencies are trained…. They have standard operating procedures, they have [intelligence] gathering, [intelligence] analysis, counter-intelligence measures, that they will pursue, and they are expected to pursue this,” said Vida.

How about a timetable? Vida said they will “do it as fast as [they] can.” He also evaded the question when asked if the President himself gave the orders to arrest Dela Rosa.

“Actually, this presupposes any order because this is actually operationalizing a valid arrest warrant,” said the acting DOJ chief.

Play Video

Will Bato be sent to The Hague?

It took almost a day for the Marcos administration to clarify things about Dela Rosa’s arrest.

The Office of the Solicitor General — the government’s primary legal counsel — said on Thursday that the denial of the TRO cleared the way for the government to arrest Dela Rosa. But before this, Malacañang, the DOJ, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government refused to directly answer whether the warrant will be implemented on not.

For some experts, the SC’s refusal to give immediate relief to Dela Rosa on May 13 should have been used by the Marcos government to immediately effect the arrest warrant against the former PNP chief.

Meanwhile, despite Vida’s announcement on Thursday, some things still remain unclear. This includes whether or not Dela Rosa will be immediately brought to The Hague, as what happened in 2025 when former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested.

“These are operational matters that I cannot discuss so that we don’t defeat the purpose of the arrest, which is, the ultimate objective is to bring him to the ICC,” the acting DOJ chief said.

DOJ spokesperson Prosecutor Polo Martinez also refused to answer the question. He instead said: “Let’s just focus on what we have now. What we know is there is a directive to enforce the warrant.”

By process, the Philippines — even without the Interpol’s help — can directly send Dela Rosa to The Hague through Republic Act (RA) No. 9851 or the domestic International Humanitarian Law. Under this law, the Philippine government is allowed to surrender suspects to international courts.

There also legal opinions that say Article 59 of the Rome Statue, the treaty that created the Rome Statute, should apply to local ICC cases. This provision states that an arrested suspect should be brought first before a competent judicial authority, before they can be surrendered to the ICC, to ensure that:

• the warrant applies to that person
• the person was arrested following proper process
• the person’s rights were respected

However, there are differing opinions within the legal community on whether the Philippines is bound to follow Article 59, especially because the country is no longer a member of the ICC. Duterte’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2018 took effect in 2019.

“The Philippines is no longer bound today to follow Article 59 of the Rome Statute. Duterte has only himself to blame if he cannot now invoke Article 59 of the Rome Statute,” retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio said in 2025, after former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.

In Dela Rosa’s case, will the DOJ follow the Duterte track? Martinez had no definitive answer.

“As to what legal framework, of course, the legal framework that operates within the Philippines. And we know that’s not just our laws,” the DOJ spokesperson said. – Rappler.com