The Office of the Solicitor General urged the Supreme Court to dismissed Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s petition questioning the implementation of warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court.

Dela Rosa lawyer filed an urgent manifestation stating that the court could now rule on the issue since the existence of the ICC warrant had already been confirmed.

The Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order and instead sought comments from government agencies involved in the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte in March 2025, including the Office of the Executive Secretary, Ombudsman, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police.

The ICC arrest warrant identified Dela Rosa as a”co-perpetrator” in the crimes against humanity case against Duterte, stemming from the thousands of deaths recorded in the war on drugs during his presidency.

OSG, which represented the government officials, argued that Republic Act 9851 —the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity — authorizes the government to enforce the ICC arrest warrant without need for validation by a Philippine court.

The solicitor general also reiterated that dela Rosa’s case is not covered by extradition rules, noting that an ICC surrender — the state delivering a person to the court — differs from extradition, which is between states.

It said dela Rosa invokes the extradition rules not to follow the law but to “add a layer of domestic litigation” in the warrant’s enforcement.

The OSG further argued that dela Rosa is not entitled to an injunctive writ as the attempts to serve the warrant did not threaten his liberty.

Dela Rosa was able to enter the Senate session hall Monday last week, cast his vote to elect Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as new Senate president, was afforded protection, and managed to leave without hindrance.

All these suggest he was not under real restraint and remained physically at liberty, according to OSG.

The OSG also reiterated that parliamentary immunity, which supposedly protects Dela Rosa from arrest, only applies to offenses punishable by not more than six years of imprisonment.

Crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute constitute life imprisonment, while RA 9851 imposes the penalty ranging from reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua.

The OSG  also maintained that dela Rosa has put himself “beyond the reach of law enforcement,” and “the fugitive disentitlement should also apply to him.”