Philippines puts 50 million peso bounty on ICC-wanted senator dela Rosa

Manila has put a 50 million peso price on the capture of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, a former head of the national police whom the International Criminal Court wants over Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, The Straits Times and the South China Morning Post reported on Friday.

The two papers gave different foreign currency values for the reward. The SCMP put it at US$786,000. The Straits Times, which ran an AFP story, gave a figure of roughly S$1 million.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla announced the bounty at a news conference, according to The Straits Times. He said that from that day the senator would be treated as armed and dangerous, and accused him of having "shown nothing but cowardice by going into and remaining in hiding". "It's time for the gloves to come off," Remulla said, adding that the victims were owed justice.

National police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez said dela Rosa may have been sheltered "by an armed group or group of supporters". He cautioned that whoever was helping the fugitive would be held to account. A special task force now has the job of locating the senator and surrendering him to the ICC, Nartatez said.

Both outlets reported that dela Rosa had spent much of the preceding months out of sight. The court in The Hague issued a warrant for him in November 2025 and made it public in May. On May 11 he resurfaced and sheltered inside the Senate. Within days he was gone again, after security staff and investigators who had come to detain him faced off in an incident in which gunshots were fired.

The ICC has identified him as one of eight co-perpetrators of the campaign, which covered Duterte's years as president from 2016 and, before that, his period as mayor of a city in the south. The Straits Times said sitting senator Christopher Lawrence Go also appears on that list, although no ICC warrant against him is known to exist.

By the police's own account, officers killed upwards of 6,000 drug suspects while Duterte was in office, a term that finished in 2022, and they maintain they acted in self-defence. The real number of deaths is believed to run into the thousands. Lawyers representing victims say a full trial might prompt more families to speak up.

Police took Duterte into custody in Manila on March 11, 2025, and he was handed to the court the following day. He has been held in The Hague since then. Prosecutors accuse him of a role in no fewer than 76 killings from 2013 to 2018, and he faces three charges of crimes against humanity. His trial on murder and attempted murder charges is set to open on November 30.

Sources: South China Morning Post, Philippines offers US$786,000 bounty for ‘dangerous’ senator wanted by ICC; The Straits Times, Philippines puts bounty on Duterte’s fugitive drug-war enforcer.