Gunshots rang out inside the Philippine Senate building in Manila on Wednesday evening, May 13, sending senators, reporters, and staff scrambling for cover during a tense standoff involving Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who has been barricaded inside the complex since Monday to evade an International Criminal Court arrest warrant charging him with crimes against humanity.
No casualties were reported following the shooting. Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza confirmed no injuries, while Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla, who arrived on the scene shortly after the gunfire, said authorities were working to identify the perpetrators.
Al Jazeera's correspondent on the ground reported that approximately 15 shots were heard, prompting journalists to flee the building, while Reuters witnesses counted more than a dozen gunshots, according to CNN.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denied any government involvement in the incident, stating in a recorded message that neither the Philippine National Police nor the National Bureau of Investigation had fired shots inside the chamber.
Attempted Arrest of Philippine Senator
Marcos called for calm and said he and Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano had agreed to get "to the bottom" of the incident. Remulla said CCTV footage from the Government Service Insurance System, which owns the building, had been secured by police for investigation.
According to Interior Secretary Remulla, unidentified armed individuals attempted to access the second floor of the Senate but were repelled by a Senate Sergeant-at-Arms member who discharged a warning shot, after which the intruders fired into the air as they retreated.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag denied that his agents had been dispatched to the building that evening, adding that he had spoken with the justice minister and was waiting for instructions.
More than ten military personnel in camouflage, some carrying assault rifles, were seen inside the Senate complex; military public affairs chief Xerxes Trinidad confirmed the Senate itself had requested military assistance to secure the building.
The standoff began on Monday, May 11, when the ICC unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa that had originally been issued in secret on November 6, 2025.
Read more: Filipinos are Top Migrants in Greenland, Sparks Jokes Online and Fear of Trump's Greenland Conquest
ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I identified dela Rosa as an alleged indirect co-perpetrator in the crime against humanity of murder, covering no fewer than 32 killings committed between July 3, 2016, and the end of April 2018, during Duterte's anti-drug campaign.
The tribunal alleged that dela Rosa, as former Philippine National Police chief, helped implement a nationwide plan to "neutralize" alleged criminals, a term prosecutors say was understood to mean "kill," and that he promised impunity to officers involved in killings, the Manila Bulletin reported.
Hours before the ICC confirmed the warrant, surveillance cameras inside the Senate captured dela Rosa sprinting through hallways and stumbling on stairs as agents from the National Bureau of Investigation attempted to apprehend him, footage that was later played during a plenary Senate session.
Dela Rosa sought protection from his colleagues, and the Senate, under newly installed Senate President Cayetano — a Duterte ally — voted to place him under legislative protective custody.
Cayetano declared a lockdown of the building and stated the Senate would only allow an arrest carried out under a Philippine court order, not an ICC directive.
On Wednesday, before the gunshots erupted, dela Rosa posted on Facebook saying his arrest was imminent and urged the public to mobilize to stop his transfer to The Hague. His legal team had filed an emergency petition with the Philippine Supreme Court seeking to block any extradition attempt; the court gave all parties 72 hours to respond.
Dela Rosa faces charges comparable to those leveled against former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested in March last year and is currently detained at the ICC in the Netherlands awaiting trial, as per NBC News.
© 2026 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
