Do we like Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa?
Our score: 1 out of 10. A long record of dismissing rights concerns, with an ICC warrant he is dodging, and almost no real good to set against it.
Born in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, Bato dela Rosa graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1986. He ran the Davao City police office from 2012 to 2013, became Rodrigo Duterte's police chief in 2016 and was elected senator in 2019. He ranked third in the 2025 Senate race and is described as one of the Duterte family's closest allies.
The big one is the ICC. A warrant issued in secret on 6 November 2025 and unsealed on 11 May 2026 alleges he is criminally responsible, as an indirect co-perpetrator, for the crime against humanity of murder over at least 32 killings between 2016 and 2018. The court alleges he took part in a common plan to kill alleged criminals, including people linked to drugs. He has called the allegations “fabricated”, says he led the campaign but never ordered unlawful killings, and says he would “gladly answer” in a local court. No court has decided any of it.
What he's done since is the bit that sticks. After the warrant was unsealed he ran into the Senate, a standoff followed, and he later left Senate custody. He told reporters “But still, I will not surrender.” Months on, police are running tracking teams and offering a P50 million reward, and the Palace has urged him to give himself up as a former police chief and sitting lawmaker.
On the harm check, his own words don't help. In 2019 he responded to the death of a three-year-old girl in a police anti-drug operation by talking about collateral damage, and Human Rights Watch called his attitude “uncaring, even contemptuous”. Campaigners say the drug war killings could amount to crimes against humanity, which he denies. We found nothing from him on climate, vaccines or election conspiracies, so this verdict rests on the drug war and how he talks about it.
The good stuff is thin. In September 2025 he backed a push to lift scholarship funding for the children of former combatants, arguing it would support peace efforts. That's about the whole list we could confirm, and it's small next to everything else. Some of his Senate colleagues have asked him to surrender, which he has rejected.
So, would we support him? No. A senator who calls the case against him fabricated, and who is sitting out a warrant instead of testing it in court, isn't someone a family page backs. The allegations are still just that until a court rules, but his own words about the drug war are enough on their own.