Senate President Vicente Sotto III said there has been no word yet from Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa regarding the arrest warrant purportedly issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his being an alleged co-conspirator in Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs.” 

Sotto replied in the negative on Saturday when CoverStory asked if Dela Rosa had reached out to him regarding the matter. Hours earlier, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla told radio dzRH that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for the senator who, as head of the Philippine National Police, was the chief implementor of the ex-president’s antidrug campaign that officially resulted in 6,000 dead and, per rights advocates, as many as 30,000 petty drug users and pushers.

However, Sotto said he was not aware that a warrant had been issued for Dela Rosa’s arrest. “But as I have said in the past and in consultation with some members of the Senate, to preserve the dignity of the Senate and as a matter of institutional courtesy, we cannot allow any senator to be arrested in the Senate premises,” he said in a text message.

But the chamber’s protection for Dela Rosa will not extend beyond it, according to the Senate President. “Outside the Senate premises, that’s no longer our concern,” he said.

Asked whether he and Dela Rosa had previously discussed the possibility of the latter’s stay in the Senate should an arrest warrant be issued, Sotto said: “I have not discussed it with anyone.”

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV previously told CoverStory that Dela Rosa is part of the communication he filed in 2017 at the ICC in seeking an investigation of Duterte’s “war on drugs.” He referred to the senator as a “co-principal accused” along with the former president, who has been in the custody of the ICC in The Hague since March, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.

Trillanes also said the ICC may issue a warrant for Dela Rosa’s arrest late this year or early next year.