Gunshots heard at Philippine Senate as ICC arrest expected

Gunshots have been heard inside the Senate of the Philippines as tensions escalate over a planned arrest of a top senator.

Witnesses reported multiple shots on Wednesday, sending journalists and others scrambling for cover as armed personnel moved through the building.

What happened at the Senate?

More than 10 soldiers in camouflage had earlier entered the complex, some carrying assault rifles, though it remained unclear who fired the shots or why troops were deployed.

The incident comes as Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a key figure in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, faces a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Dela Rosa, who has been sheltering in his office since Monday, said his arrest was imminent and called on supporters to mobilize to block any attempt to transfer him to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity.

Dela Rosa urged "my fellow men in uniform" and former classmates at the Philippine Military Academy, to "express their sentiment" that President Ferdinand Marcos's government "should not hand me over to foreigners."

Whay is Dela Rosa wanted by the ICC?

Dela Rosa was national police chief in 2016-2018, during Duterte's first two years in office and acted as his chief drug war enforcer.

He is better known by his nickname "Bato," meaning "Rock." 

Human rights monitors say the crackdown left thousands dead, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics sellers. He denies involvement in ​illegal killing and insists that a transfer to the ⁠ICC would be illegal, because the country is no longer a signatory.

As president, Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018 after its ⁠prosecutor announced a preliminary examination into his anti-drugs ​campaign had begun. Alleged crimes committed while a country was a member of the ICC are, according to the court, still under its jurisdiction.

On Monday, the Philippine lower house of parliament voted to advance impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president. Duterte himself is already in the Hague awaiting trial at the ICC.

Bato was previously the City Director of the Davao City Police under both Sara Duterte and her father when he succeeded her as that city's mayor in 2013.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery