Emmanuel Tupas - The Philippine Star
October 24, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Saying the gloves are off, the government has put up a P50-million bounty for any information that will lead to the capture of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and gave him a week to surrender. In announcing the reward, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the senator, who is considered “armed and dangerous,” has been given all the courtesy to voluntarily surrender following an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant of arrest issued in November 2025.
Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, has been tagged a co-conspirator of former president Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity case before the ICC.
Instead of showing up and taking responsibility for his actions, Remulla said Dela Rosa is a coward by remaining in hiding.
“Senator Bato mistook my gesture of negotiation as a sign of weakness. It’s time for the gloves to come off. It’s time to bring justice to his victims,” Remulla told a news briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.
“As of today, Senator Bato will be considered armed and dangerous. We are placing a bounty of P50 million for his capture,” Remulla said.
With the reward, Dela Rosa is now the No. 1 most wanted fugitive in the country, followed by gambling tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang, who has a P20-million bounty for his arrest in connection with the alleged kidnapping and killing of cockfight enthusiasts or sabungeros.
The bounty for Dela Rosa was sourced from the intelligence funds of the DILG and the PNP, Remulla said.
Remulla has designated PNP deputy chief for administration Lt. Gen. Wilson Lopez as the head of a special task force to arrest Dela Rosa.
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said Dela Rosa has one week to surrender but maintained law enforcement operations to arrest the senator are ongoing.
Apart from intelligence operatives, Nartatez said they are also utilizing tactical teams and other resources to locate and arrest Dela Rosa.
“With or without ultimatum, with or without reward, the PNP is ready to implement whatever (needs) to be implemented. That is our commitment,” he said.
Dela Rosa is allegedly being protected by a powerful armed group in a secluded area in Mindanao, the reason why Remulla is cautious about launching an operation to arrest the senator by force.
The DILG chief said a bloodbath similar to the siege of Marawi in 2017 could ensue.
For Nartatez, the possibility of casualties is always there but maintained they have contingency measures in place to ensure the lawmaker is caught.
“For example, the coddlers are 10 (people), then we will need a hundred (operatives). It will be a calibrated one,” Nartatez said.
The PNP has searched several areas in Mindanao and Luzon, including Metro Manila, where there have been reported sightings of Dela Rosa but all turned out negative. Nartatez said they could not see a pattern on Dela Rosa’s movements.
Nartatez warned Dela Rosa’s coddlers to stop protecting Dela Rosa and hand him over to authorities or face criminal cases.
Dela Rosa’s last public appearance was on May 14, when he was seen exiting the Senate premises alongside Sen. Robinhood Padilla, his colleague in the minority.
Local warrant first
Dela Rosa’s counsel Israelito Torreon rejected the DILG’s bounty for his client, saying a local warrant must first exist.
Torreon’s law firm made a lengthy post on social media yesterday, after the lawyer initially said “no comment” on the matter.
“A reward system built on Philippine warrants cannot be used for a person who has no Philippine warrant,” the law firm of Torreon & Partners posted on Facebook.
“The only document the government has is a warrant from the International Criminal Court. That is a foreign tribunal under a treaty the Philippines withdrew from effective March 17, 2019. No Philippine judge has examined that warrant, adopted it or issued one of his own,” Torreon claimed. – Ghio Ong