Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa – Photo courtesy of Bato Dela Rosa/Facebook.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa on Wednesday pushed back against calls from fellow lawmakers for him to surrender, saying he would first exhaust all available legal remedies.
On Tuesday, Senators Francis Pangilinan, Vicente Sotto III, Panfilo Lacson, Risa Hontiveros, and Bam Aquino introduced a resolution urging dela Rosa to voluntarily submit to authorities and pursue remedies under the Constitution and existing laws.
The senator said he was aware of the move, although he had yet to read the resolution in full.
Dela Rosa said he was not inclined to comply immediately, stressing that surrender was not his priority while other legal options remained available to him.
He also expressed disappointment over the move, noting that some of the senators who signed the resolution had worked closely with him in the past.
The lawmaker raised concerns that surrendering to local authorities could eventually lead to his transfer to the International Criminal Court, which had issued a warrant against him over his role in the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
He pointed to the case of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was brought to The Hague in 2025 to face trial before the ICC on charges linked to the drug war.
Dela Rosa maintained that his actions were guided by self-preservation, adding that others in a similar situation might respond the same way, even as he said he accepted the decision of his colleagues to file the resolution.
