Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs killed an estimated 12,000 to 30,000 drug users and dealers, overwhelmingly from the poorest sections of society. It worsened the culture of impunity for human rights violations in the country. It was even expanded to attack all voices of dissent to the Duterte government, especially those coming from the marginalized. Ninety-nine (99) labor activists were extrajudicially killed under Duterte’s fascist rule.

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) expresses its anger and condemnation over the escape of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Duterte’s main henchman in the drug war, from the premises of the Philippine Senate. We believe the National Union of People’s Lawyers’ (NUPL) assertion that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2025 and made public in May 2026 should have been served immediately.

We have every reason to believe that Bato’s escape was made possible by the collusion of new Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, a close Duterte ally. After seven months in hiding, Bato surfaced in the Senate to vote for Cayetano as Senate president, who then had to ensure his escape from the Senate premises. Refusing to recognize the validity of the ICC warrant, Cayetano has said that Bato did not escape and was free to go. Bato’s escape was marked by the firing of guns inside the Senate building, an unprecedented low for the institution which occurred during Cayetano’s Senate presidency.

We also have every reason to believe that Bato’s escape was enabled by the lack of resolve of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on the matter. Despite the strong statements of Presidential Spokesperson Claire Castro and the strongman posturing of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Marcos Jr was indecisive in carrying out the Philippine government’s duty to arrest Bato and surrender him to the ICC.

Supporters of Duterte and Bato are quick to cook up legal excuses and appeals to the country’s Constitution and sovereignty to defend Bato’s escape. They try to evade the fact that criminals responsible for killing tens of thousands pose an immediate and bigger threat to Filipinos and are the biggest violators of the country’s laws and the Constitution. Duterte also shamelessly sucked up to global superpowers and helped violate the country’s sovereignty.

Bato’s escape further highlights the necessity of the ICC’s prosecution of Duterte and his co-conspirators for crimes against humanity. The country’s political institutions are not working to serve justice to the victims of the drug war killings and uphold human rights. Political leaders in the country are either conspiring with the criminals or lack the resolve to seek the criminals’ accountability for their crimes.

We support all Filipinos who stand for human rights and democracy and against crimes against humanity, who are seething in anger, in protesting Bato’s escape. Like them, we demand Bato’s immediate arrest by the Philippine government and detention and trial by the ICC. We demand that the Marcos Jr government use all means possible to immediately arrest Bato and clearly stand and speak out for human rights, democracy and justice.