Star Metro - Ex-Philippine drug war enforcer flees Senate refuge

"The sergeant at arms has confirmed that Senator Bato is no longer in the building," Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano told a news conference, referring to Senator Ronald Dela Rosa by his nickname.

Dela Rosa, the police chief from 2016-2018 during the first two years of former president Rodrigo Duterte's anti-narcotics crackdown that killed thousands, disappeared from public view in November last year.

He showed up at the Senate on Monday and narrowly evaded arrest by government agents who chased him up the stairs.

Dela Rosa said he would fight efforts to arrest him and turn him over to the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court.

Duterte was arrested in March last year and flown to the Netherlands, where he is being held in The Hague awaiting trial.

Cayetano said Dela Rosa's wife sent him a message confirming that her husband had left the building.

He did not say where Dela Rosa had gone and angrily denied accusations that the Senate leadership had helped Dela Rosa leave and evade government agents seeking to arrest him.

The Senate confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for Dela Rosa, accusing him of the crime against humanity of murder.

Police and a National Bureau of Investigation employee both fired into the air during a tense confrontation at the Senate complex on Wednesday night, forcing legislators to take cover inside their offices.

Cayetano said Dela Rosa's disappearance was discovered earlier on Thursday, shortly after police announced the arrest of the government agent alleged to have fired warning shots on Wednesday night.

Police seized live ammunition from the man they arrested, who was being tested for gunshot residue.

A.Landry--SMC