The Philippine National Police (PNP) once again appealed to Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa on Thursday to surrender.
The police said turning himself in will avoid any untoward incident that could result from his arrest.
PNP spokesperson P/Col. Allen Rae Co reiterated their call to the senator in a press conference, a day before the one-week period given to the senator to surrender expires.
‘Again, the same appeal that we are giving to him and to his family: Let’s end this with dignity on your part. Let’s avoid any untoward incident,’ said Co.
‘Any potential dangerous encounters or any harm that may come to anybody,’ he warned.
‘We we would like to avoid any injuries, any violent encounters, and, of course, the worst thing is that there may be casualties in the operation,’ he remarked.
The PNP gave dela Rosa one week to surrender after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) earlier placed a P50 million bounty for the senator’s arrest.
Tagged as armed and dangerous, dela Rosa is subject to an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.
This came after being he was named co-perpetrator in then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity case in connection with the war on illegal drugs.
According to Co, the PNP tagged the senator as armed and dangerous as he has more than 90 firearms with him.
DILG Sec. Jonvic Remulla also previously said that an armed group is protecting the senator, even warning that arresting him may result in 10,000 deaths.
Dela Rosa has been in hiding as early as November 2025.
Although he reappeared at the Senate around May 2026, he then later escaped with the alleged help of fellow Senator Robin Padilla.