MANILA — The Philippine government on Friday, October 23, placed a bounty of 50 million pesos (about US$786,000) on Senator Ronald 'Bato' dela Rosa, the former police chief who enforced ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug crackdown and who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), AFP reported from Manila.
Source: AFP via Bangsar / SCMP
Yaani: 50 million pesos is 5 crore pesos — about US$786,000 (yaani roughly US$0.79 million). The reward will be drawn from the intelligence funds of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), according to officials at the briefing.
"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 news conference at Camp Crame, AFP reported. 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."
Source: AFP via Bangsar
PNP chief Police General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. gave dela Rosa one week to surrender, according to SunStar Philippines and DZRH, both of which quoted him directly, and ABS-CBN reported the same one-week window. "We will continue our operation with or without ultimatum, with or without reward," Nartatez said in the DZRH account. A task force headed by Police Major General Wilson Lopez has been formed with the sole objective of 'locating and arresting' the senator, Remulla said — a detail also reported by the Tribune and the Inquirer.
Source: SunStar / DZRH / ABS-CBN via Astig.ph
Police have searched areas in Mindanao, Bicol, Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog, PNP officials said at the briefing, and authorities warned that anyone proven to be concealing dela Rosa could face prosecution.
Source: PNP briefing via DILG / PNP PIO reports
Dela Rosa's legal counsel, Israelito Torreon, declined to address the bounty and the ultimatum. In a social media post on Friday, October 23, Torreon wrote that his camp's comment was: "No Comment."
Source: MediaBytes PH — counsel statement
The ICC alleges — an allegation, not a conviction — that dela Rosa was among eight 'co-perpetrators' in the drug crackdown under Duterte's presidency from 2016 and his earlier stint as mayor of a southern city, AFP reported. Arab News, citing the court, described dela Rosa, 64, as alleged to have been an indirect co-perpetrator. The Hague-based tribunal ordered his arrest nearly a year ago; the November 2025 warrant was unsealed in May, AFP reported.
Source: AFP; Arab News via Scoop
Dela Rosa had mostly been in hiding for months, emerged on May 11 to take refuge inside the Senate building, and slipped out days later following a standoff between security guards and investigators attempting to arrest him, in which shots were fired, according to AFP. Philippine police have said they killed more than 6,000 drug suspects in self-defence during Duterte's presidency, which ended in 2022 — a police figure reported by AFP.
Source: AFP via Bangsar
Duterte himself was arrested in Manila on March 11 last year and handed over the following day to the ICC, where he has been in detention in The Hague ever since, AFP reported. His trial on charges of the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder is due to begin on November 30 — charges he faces as allegations before the court.
Source: AFP via Bangsar