Here is the rewritten content without additional comments:
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 May 2026) — The Supreme Court En Banc has denied Senator Ronald Dela Rosa’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop authorities from arresting and turning him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Court resolved Dela Rosa’s prayer for a TRO and/or status quo ante order (SQAO) during a special session held on Wednesday, with nine votes to deny his request for interim relief, five dissenting, and one abstention.
In a press briefer, the Court said it ruled only on the interim reliefs prayed for by Dela Rosa, while the main issues remain to be resolved.
On May 11, Dela Rosa, through counsel Israelito Torreon, filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the SC, with a prayer for interim relief of TRO and/or SQAO, shortly after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel attempted to arrest him on the strength of the ICC warrant while the senator was inside the Senate.
Dela Rosa appeared to vote for a leadership change in the Senate after months of absence from the sessions.
The senator, who had been holed up inside the Senate and placed under its protective order, quietly left the premises around 2:30 a.m. on May 14 to evade arrest, just hours after an alleged shooting incident occurred inside the building.
According to the Court, Dela Rosa sought TRO and/or SQAO to “prevent the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group from arresting him based on any warrant from the ICC Red Notice and diffusion from International Criminal Police Organization, or any foreign judicial or quasi-judicial instrument without a Philippine judicial warrant.”
The ICC announced an arrest warrant had been issued against Dela Rosa in connection with his participation in the bloody war on drugs of the previous Duterte administration. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
