How a Philippine war crimes suspect thwarted arrest (for now)

Highlights:

• Senate shootout highlights rift between Marcos and Duterte camps
• Government probes if shots were staged to aid dela Rosa's escape
• ICC drug war probe has stirred Philippines' political strains

It unfolded like a crime thriller: a fugitive making his escape under cover of darkness in the confused aftermath of a hail of gunfire.

Philippine Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, wanted by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in the country's deadly drug war, fled into the Manila night hours after an unprecedented shootout on Wednesday in the Senate where he had spent days holed up evading arrest.

The chaos involved different government ‌forces: Senate security led by an official with ties to former President Rodrigo Duterte's camp and the National Bureau of Investigation overseen by an appointee of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

It was the second run-in involving dela Rosa in a week, after the senator escaped NBI agents in a cat-and-mouse chase.

The political drama has engulfed the archipelago for months, pitting the ruling Marcos against the camp of Duterte's daughter and current Vice-President Sara Duterte as the ICC pursues accountability for a drug crackdown that killed thousands.

Dela Rosa, a 64-year-old former police chief, is unrepentant about his role in the drug war and previously said he would happily accompany Duterte to The Hague where the former leader faces a trial for crimes against humanity.

On Monday, dela Rosa emerged from months of hiding to cast a crucial vote in a Senate leadership election expected to help shield the vice-president from a pending impeachment trial.

The government, which denies sending forces to arrest dela Rosa during Wednesday's chaos, says it is investigating ⁠whether the shooting was staged to allow his escape. Nobody was harmed.

"Duterte told me they would find it very hard to take Bato," Duterte's former lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told Reuters, referring to the senator by his Filipino nickname meaning "rock" and saying he enjoyed support among security forces.

"Gunshots in a national assembly are unheard of. It points to a deep crisis in the Philippines linked to the ICC issue."

Months of hiding

The drama began in the late afternoon on Wednesday as rumours began to swirl that the NBI were on their way.

The chamber was under new leadership: dela Rosa's surprise arrival on Monday had allowed a pro-Duterte bloc of senators to seize a majority and install a new president, Alan Peter Cayetano.

Cayetano said he had driven his fugitive colleague into the building by car. CCTV footage shows the senator stumbling up a staircase, pursued by NBI agents.

He pushed a female agent, said former senator Antonio Trillanes, who was present and accompanied the NBI to serve the warrant. The NBI was tasked with arresting dela Rosa because of his residual influence over the police, Trillanes said.

An anxious dela Rosa broadcast on Facebook appealing for supporters including "fellow men in uniform" to mobilise, saying government agents were about to arrest him. "Let us not allow another Filipino to be taken to The Hague," he said.

At around 7 pm, the head of Senate security Mao Aplasca, a retired police general and old friend of dela Rosa, announced to reporters his security team was "going to arrest someone" and the building would go into "total lockdown".

Aplasca, who attended the military academy alongside dela Rosa and served under ‌him during the ⁠drug war, said later he was referring to arresting NBI agents.

Aplasca was appointed by the changed Senate leadership as one of its first acts and blocked NBI agents from entering the Senate during the first arrest attempt, according to Trillanes.

As the building went into lockdown on Wednesday, Aplasca and the Senate security began putting on ballistic vests. They were not alone: Reuters reporters saw police and Philippine marines with rifles and Kevlar helmets, summoned by Aplasca, the military said later.

Aplasca led the armed men to an entrance to a neighbouring building, the headquarters of the Government Service Insurance System.

Ten minutes later, a volley of gunfire erupted – dozens of shots triggered, Aplasca said later, by NBI agents who raised their rifles.

His team responded with 27 "warning" shots, he said.

Reporters and Senate staff ran for cover, Reuters journalists among them, as Senate security flicked the lights in the corridor off, some ⁠continuing to broadcast live.

"The Senate is under attack! Pls help us," dela Rosa posted on Facebook.

Several floors above, despite the turmoil, House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil managed to file the impeachment papers, paving the way for the vice-president's trial. She denies accusations of misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth, and threatening the lives of Marcos, the first lady, and a former House Speaker.

Opportunity to escape

By 8:30 pm on Wednesday, the drama was all over. The chief of police and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla arrived and reporters were asked to leave.

Remulla said dela Rosa was "resting" in his office.

Senate security records ⁠produced by Cayetano showed he left the building at around 2:30 am - unchallenged by guards.

The NBI has given a different version of events, saying it sent agents to the adjoining GSIS insurance building on the request of that institution but did not attempt to enter the Senate. The GSIS has not commented.

Aplasca has been suspended for six months while authorities probe the incident. He did not answer phone calls seeking comment.

Former senator Trillanes said the incident showed how Duterte's allies could "control or abuse the powers of the Senate to provide ⁠a sanctuary to one international fugitive" and bolsters the argument for having drug war cases tried outside the country.

The situation is "very hard to explain" and "quite embarrassing for the institutions of governance in a country," said Dindo Manhit, founder of local thinktank the Stratbase Institute for Strategic and International Studies.

The drama over dela Rosa is unfinished: Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said on Friday the Philippines would "definitely" comply with the ICC's arrest request and stop him from fleeing abroad. Dela Rosa has filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court arguing the ICC lacks jurisdiction.