Philippines offers $786,000 bounty for Ronald Dela Rosa

The Philippine government offered a 50 million peso bounty, about $786,000, on Friday for the capture of former police chief and Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, nearly a year after the International Criminal Court ordered his arrest.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla said Dela Rosa would be considered armed and dangerous. Remulla said the bounty was intended to secure the capture of the former top enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug crackdown.

The ICC unsealed the November 2025 arrest warrant against Dela Rosa in May. Dela Rosa had emerged from months of hiding on May 11 to take refuge inside the Senate building, but left days later after a standoff between security guards and investigators trying to arrest him. Shots were fired during that standoff.

Philippine police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez said Friday that Dela Rosa may be protected by “an armed group or group of supporters” and warned that people shielding him would face consequences. He said a task force had been formed to track Dela Rosa and hand him over to the ICC.

Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11 last year and transferred the next day to the ICC, where he has been detained in The Hague. He is due to stand trial on November 30 on three counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.

Dela Rosa was named among eight alleged co-perpetrators in the drug crackdown during Duterte's presidency and his earlier time as mayor of a southern city. Philippine police have said they killed more than 6,000 drug suspects in self-defence during Duterte's presidency, which ended in 2022.