Palace to Bato: Drug war victims are Filipinos too

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

May 12, 2026 | 2:49pm

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday, May 12, brushed aside Sen. Bato dela Rosa's plea for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to shield him from the International Criminal Court, saying the Filipinos killed in the drug war he helped lead need protection, too.

Dela Rosa faces an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity for alleged drug war killings that were carried out under his watch as police chief from 2016 to 2018.

He tearfully asked Marcos earlier today in an ambush interview, not to give him up to the ICC and to remember they are "both Filipinos."

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro directly responded to Dela Rosa's appeal in a press briefing Tuesday. 

"Even the EJK victims have also asked for protection from the government. So the accused like Sen. Bato has asked for protection. Everyone will be given protection according to the law," Castro said in mixed English and Filipino.

The case before the ICC, she added, was filed by fellow Filipinos.

The retort was a rare, sharp moment in what has otherwise been a careful Palace stance on the warrant. 

Castro spent much of the briefing deferring to law enforcement agencies and pointing to the country's Interpol obligations, rather than spelling out what Marcos himself plans to do with Dela Rosa's arrest.

Asked what instructions the president had given on serving the warrant, Castro said only that the agencies involved would speak for themselves. 

"All of us here, the legislators, the Executive Department, we know our mandate and we know the limitations. So no one should abuse their power," the Palace press officer  said.

The Senate yesterday placed Dela Rosa under its protective custody after a surprise coup that saw Sen. Tito Sotto get replaced by now-Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.

Cayetano and Dela Rosa's allies have argued that he cannot be arrested while in session.

Castro, however, said senator should know the limits of their own authority because they write the law. 

Parliamentary immunity from arrest does not apply to offenses carrying penalties of more than six years, she added.

In case of a standoff at the Senate premises, where Dela Rosa is currently holed up, the Palace declined to say what Marcos would do.

Castro said she does not want to speculate on how the president would handle a possible confrontation between arresting officers and the Senate sergeant-at-arms, saying it would only fuel "a negative impression" if the scenario did not play out.

She also said she was not aware of any back-channel talks between Malacañang and Senate leaders to head off such a clash, beyond a meeting between the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate the night before. 

Victims' kin want Bato arrested

Outside the Palace and the Senate, the families of drug war victims pressed the same point. Rise Up for Life and for Rights, a group of kin of those killed in anti-drug operations, called on the Senate on Tuesday to step aside and let the government arrest Dela Rosa and turn him over to the ICC.

"The Senate should respect the Philippine government's international obligations and allow the arrest of and surrender Bato dela Rosa to the ICC. Do not protect Duterte's co-perpetrator in the commission of crimes against humanity," Rubylin G. Litao, the group's coordinator, said in a statement.