Senator Ronald dela Rosa was chased through the Philippine Senate hallways and emergency stairwells by government agents attempting to execute an arrest warrant. CCTV footage captured the senator racing through the complex and stumbling on a staircase to evade the authorities.
The International Criminal Court has unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa, linking him to the deadly war on drugs overseen by former President Rodrigo Duterte, which allegedly involved the extrajudicial killings of suspects. Dela Rosa stated in a Facebook livestream that agents wanted to forcibly bring him to The Hague and pleaded for public support.
Dela Rosa denied any wrongdoing, claiming that police acted against suspects who threatened law enforcers. After emerging from hiding to cast a key vote in the upper house on Monday, he vowed to fight any attempt to execute the warrant. He subsequently spent the night at his senate office after another Duterte ally offered protective custody.
The pursuit occurred as a bizarre sideshow to the current drama between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.