MANILA: The Philippine government put a bounty on Friday on the head of the top enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's bloody anti-drug crackdown, nearly a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered his arrest.
Former Philippine police chief and sitting Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa had mostly been in hiding for months before The Hague-based tribunal unsealed the November 2025 arrest warrant against him in May and put him into flight.
The bounty comes just over a month before Duterte is to stand trial on November 30 for the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder.
"As of today, Senator Bato will be considered armed and dangerous. We are placing a bounty of 50 million pesos (about $786,000) for his capture," Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla told a Friday news conference.
Remulla said Dela Rosa "has shown nothing but cowardice by going into and remaining in hiding", adding: "It's time for the gloves to come off. It's time to bring justice to his victims."
Dela Rosa emerged from months of hiding on May 11 to take refuge inside the Senate building, but slipped out days later following a standoff between security guards and investigators attempting to arrest him, in which shots were fired.
Former president Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11 last year and handed over the following day to the ICC. He has been in detention in The Hague ever since.
Dela Rosa was named as among eight "co-perpetrators" in the drug crackdown that took place during the Duterte presidency from 2016 as well as during his earlier stint as mayor of a southern city.
Philippine police have said they killed more than 6,000 drug suspects in self-defence during his presidency, which ended in 2022.
Among the other co-perpetrators named by the ICC is sitting Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, though there is no known ICC arrest warrant against him.
Philippine police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez said Friday that Dela Rosa was possibly being protected "by an armed group or group of supporters", warning that those shielding him would "face the consequences".
He said a dedicated task force had been formed to track him down and hand him over to the ICC.
Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
The true number of killings during his campaign in the Philippines is thought to be in the thousands, and lawyers for the victims have argued that a full trial could encourage more families to come forward. - AFP
