MANILA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Supreme Court held a vote and decided to deny Senator Ronald Dela Rosa's prayer for a temporary restraining order or status quo ante order to block a possible International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest, according to the court's statement on Wednesday.
The statement said Dela Rosa's manifestations prayed for preventing the Philippine authorities from arresting him based on any warrant from the ICC or other international organizations, or any foreign judicial or quasi-judicial instrument, without a Philippine judicial warrant.
On May 11, Dela Rosa sought judicial protection and asked the Supreme Court to immediately stop any attempt to arrest or surrender him to the ICC. On the same day, the ICC unsealed an arrest warrant for Dela Rosa, which had originally been issued as secret in November 2025.
Dela Rosa called on the public to take action to block his transfer to the ICC on social media on May 13, saying that operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and police would arrest him after a senate session.
During the night on May 13, Philippine military personnel and agents from the NBI entered the Senate building, where gunshots and panicked shouts from the crowd were heard. No casualties were reported from the incident. Philippine Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on May 14 confirmed that Dela Rosa was no longer inside the Senate building.
There have been no reports of Dela Rosa being arrested currently. He has been reportedly linked to the anti-drug crackdown launched under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is in detention at the ICC. ■
