Bato dela Rosa ignores PNP deadline; manhunt to intensify

MANILA, Philippines — A senior Philippine National Police official said they would intensify the manhunt for Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa after the former national police chief ignored a deadline to surrender on Friday. The senator has a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the war on drugs.

Dela Rosa, the chief enforcer of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, has a P50-million bounty on his head and has been declared a fugitive from justice by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Solicitor General.

Police Lt. Gen. Wilson Joseph Lopez, PNP deputy chief for administration and leader of a task force dedicated to locate Dela Rosa, told reporters on Friday that the police would take “appropriate” legal measures to arrest the senator.

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“Let me declare, we will not back down from our duty,” he said.

On Oct. 23, the PNP gave dela Rosa a week to turn himself in after the Department of the Interior and Local Government offered the P50-million reward for his arrest.

Lopez said that the PNP had reorganized his task force, forming teams per region to intensify the search for Dela Rosa.

“Let me be clear, the PNP’s objective remains clear, and that is to arrest Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa,” Lopez said. “The PNP is determined to bring the matter to a lawful resolution.”

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‘Still in PH’

Lopez also said that Dela Rosa was still in the Philippines.

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He added that the PNP had also heightened intelligence monitoring in key areas across the country to locate the senator.

Following the announcement of a bounty, the PNP opened a round-the-clock hotline to the public for any information that may lead to the senator’s whereabouts. Lopez said that they are still verifying tips from the public.

The senator is wanted by the ICC as one of eight coperpetrators in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs that killed thousands. Dela Rosa served as Duterte’s national police chief from 2016 to 2018 and was the author of the PNP antinarcotics campaign called “Oplan Double Barrel.”

Torreon: No basis

He went into hiding in November 2025 after he learned that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him. Dela Rosa surfaced on May 11 to vote for Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. He evaded arrest that day and was given refuge in the Senate but escaped from its protective custody days later and disappeared again.

The senator’s lawyer, Israelito Torreon, on Friday said that Philippine authorities had no basis for the manhunt as the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which is the ICC’s partner in arresting suspects facing charges in the international tribunal, had not issued a “red notice” for Dela Rosa.

An Interpol red notice is a request to all law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person wanted by the ICC.

Written statement

Torreon said in a phone interview on Friday that one of his colleagues confirmed that Dela Rosa wasn’t on the Interpol list of people with a red notice.

“What basis does the PNP have to search for him? The ICC warrant needs to pass through Interpol, but there is no confirmation that he is there on the red notice list,” he said.

Torreon admitted, however, that they have yet to secure a certification or written statement from the Interpol to confirm the matter.

The DOJ earlier said that the ICC’s arrest warrant is enforceable following the application for the issuance of a red notice against dela Rosa.

Duterte was arrested and surrendered by Philippine authorities to the ICC in March 2025 for his crime against humanity case through an Interpol request.

When Duterte was arrested in March 2025 in Manila, there was no red notice for him, according to Anthony Alcantara, director of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime.

‘Diffusion notice’

Alcantara explained that Philippine authorities had obtained a “diffusion notice,” which is a “standardized request” to arrest, detain, or restrict movement of an accused. It was “the same” as a red notice, he told a Senate hearing days after Duterte’s arrest.

Torreon repeated his earlier assertion that no warrant had been issued by a Philippine court to justify the senator’s arrest and bounty.

“I do hope and pray that they know what they are doing because there really is no basis for that,” he said.

“I hope that the PNP personnel would only follow lawful orders. If the order is doubtful, I hope they will act accordingly,” Torreon added.

Ruling on the senator’s petition in May, the Supreme Court denied a temporary restraining order to stop his arrest or to block an Interpol red notice against him.

Torreon said that Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, could not be used against Dela Rosa.

Even under Article 59 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, there are no Philippine laws that define the court to which the senator could turn to, he said.

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Article 59 of the statute governs the rules and procedures for arresting individuals sought by the court in a custodial state. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH