Lawyer 'Jimmy' Bondoc. (Photo spliced from video interview)
By Tracy Cabrera
LAWYER James Patrick ‘Jimmy’ Bondoc, one of the legal counsels for Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa disclosed that their camp has already filed a petition for writ of amparo before the Supreme Court in order to counter the implementation of an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Atty. Bondoc visited the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief at the Senate to check on his condition and afterwards in a press briefing, he stated that once the Supreme grants their petition, the writ would provide Dela Rosa with “a bigger form of protection” as he remains under the protective custody of the Philippine Senate.
Dela Rosa was earlier shielded from arrest after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents tried to serve the ICC warrant of arrest stemming from his primary involvement in the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
ICC prosecutors had identified Dela Rosa as a co-perpetrator of former president Rodrigo ‘Rody’ Duterte (FPRRD), who is now detained at the Schevinengen Prison in The Hague, The Netherlands to face trial for crimes against humanity in relation to his anti-drug campaign in which thousands of suspects were reportedly killed without due process.
Dela Rosa, who had been hiding since November 2025, suddenly appeared on Monday at the Senate to cast his vote to oust Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III and replace him with his colleague in the minority, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. The move appears to favor Vice President ‘Inday’ Sara Duterte-Carpio who faces an impeachment trial possibly to start on May 13.
The decision to take protective custody of Dela Rosa came after the senator alleged that he was chased by NBI agents seeking to serve him an arrest warrant supposedly issued by the ICC.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who had filed a complaint before the ICC in 2017, was at the Senate with the NBI agents who were there to arrest the EX-PNP chief. He revealed that he possessed an official ICC arrest warrant for the senator.
Trillanes’ claim, however, has not been verified, however.
“I am here because he said on national TV (television) to accompany those who will arrest him. That’s why I am here,” Trillanes clarified in Pilipino.
“The NBI (agents) are here to arrest him. [+(He’s the one) who doesn’t want to come out.” the former senator enthused in reference to a televised challenge Dela Rosa issued in 2024: “Go ahead, make my day . . . Accompany those who will arrest me, and I will let you handcuff me.”
