Gunshots have been heard in the Philippine Senate building, Senate authorities said on Wednesday, where a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court has been holed up to resist arrest,
CNN reports.
No casualties have been reported and details of the shooting remain murky. Multiple senators told local media it was unclear who fired the rounds.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos insisted the incident was not carried out by government personnel, but rather an apparent shootout between an unidentified armed group and Senate security personnel. Marcos said no government forces attempted to enter the Senate to arrest Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, a longtime ally of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who evaded arrest by local investigative unit officers earlier this week.
Senator Dela Rosa was filmed on CCTV running through the halls of the Senate on Monday to evade local agents. A series of security lockdowns inside the building followed as riot police surrounded the Senate compound.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuse Dela Rosa of conspiring with Duterte in alleged crimes against humanity, during a brutal anti-drug campaign that killed thousands. On Monday, the ICC confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for him, citing incidents in which 32 people were killed between 2016 to 2018.
Dela Rosa, 64, has not left the Senate compound since Monday and is seeking a temporary restraining order from the local Supreme Court against the ICC warrant.
The country’s Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Jonvic Remulla entered the Senate building on Wednesday night, as Senate President Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano – also considered an ally of Duterte – allowed him inside following the gunshots.
Remulla has assured Dela Rosa that he will not be served with an arrest warrant. The interior secretary also said that Dela Rosa will remain in the building as authorities do a security sweep.
