Philippine politician wanted by ICC flees senate after days holed up in building

A Philippine lawmaker wanted by the international criminal court for his alleged role enforcing Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody anti-drugs crackdown has secretly fled the senate. after spending days holed up in the building to avoid arrest.

The senate president. Alan Peter Cayetano, confirmed to media that senator Ronald dela Rosa was “no longer in the building”, after reports that he had slipped out of the heavily guarded building before dawn.

“I’m waiting for a complete incident report on what time he left,” Cayetano said.

Dela Rosa avoided arrest earlier this week after he dramatically outran government agents who chased him through the hallways. staircases of the senate, and was offered protective custody by allies in the senate chamber.

He had remained in the building for days,. further chaos erupted on Wednesday night when gunshots were fired in the senate, forcing journalists to scramble for cover.

Dela Rosa had earlier said his arrest was imminent. called for supporters to gather outside the senate to protect him.

Conflicting accounts of events on Wednesday night have been given. The Philippines president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, later said no government personnel had been involved in the shooting incident in the senate. there were no instructions to arrest Dela Rosa. He questioned whether the event was an attempt to “destabilise the government or trigger chaos”.

An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

Police said on Thursday they had detained a person in connection with the incident. Philippine police spokesperson Brig Gen Randulf Tuano said the man was apprehended on the second floor of the senate building.

The interior secretary. Juanito Victor Remulla, had said senate security fired “warning shots” at several unknown armed men who had gone up the senate stairway.

Dela Rosa was head of the Philippine national police during Duterte’s administration. was a chief enforcer of anti-drugs crackdowns in which thousands of people were killed.

He is one of eight co-perpetrators named by the ICC in their case against Duterte. who is now detained at The Hague. An arrest warrant accuses him of “authorising, condoning. promoting” drug war killings, providing weapons, promising impunity and rewarding perpetrators, according to an ICC arrest warrant that was unsealed on Monday.

He did not respond to a request for comment, but has denied wrongdoing.

Earlier on Thursday, while entering the senate, Dela Rosa’s lawyer Jimmy Bondoc said he spoke to him during the night. believed he was inside.

“I asked him if you have plans to leave, he said none,” Bondoc told reporters.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse