By Nestor Corrales and Mikhail Flores
MANILA, May 20 (Reuters) - The Philippine Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a bid by Senator Ronald dela Rosa for a temporary restraining order to prevent his arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court.
Dela Rosa, whose whereabouts are unknown, is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity over his role in a bloody "war on drugs" during Rodrigo Duterte's 2016-2022 presidency. He has denied involvement in illegal killings.
Philippine authorities confirmed last week that they were seeking to arrest the former police chief and top enforcer of the crackdown, who had argued in a petition to the court that law enforcement had no legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by a foreign court.
Dela Rosa's lawyer said they will exhaust all legal remedies, including filing a motion for reconsideration.
"Today's resolution is not a judgment on the merits. It is not a final ruling on the legality of enforcing an ICC process within Philippine territory," dela Rosa's lawyers said in a statement.
The court's decision is the latest turn in a dramatic story that has gripped the Philippines since early last week, and paves the way for his arrest.
Dela Rosa emerged from six months of hiding last week and took refuge at the Senate for several days before slipping away in the early hours of May 14, after a night of chaos and gunfire following his appeal for help and claims that his arrest was imminent.
The tough-talking dela Rosa was Duterte's top enforcer of a bloody crackdown during which thousands of alleged drug dealers were shot dead in police operations.
At the peak of the campaign, murders of drug users spiked dramatically, with police blaming those killings on vigilantes and turf wars.
Rights groups say an accurate death toll may never be known and accuse police of systematic murders and cover-ups, which they deny, insisting those killed were armed and had resisted arrest.
Duterte is currently in detention in The Hague after his arrest last year and will go on trial charged with crimes against humanity. He maintains his innocence.
The chief of the National Bureau of Investigation, which led an earlier attempt to arrest the senator, declined to comment, saying he has yet to see the court's decision.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said the government will leave it to the Department of Justice to interpret the Supreme Court's ruling, even as she maintained the warrant of arrest is valid.
The court said that while the restraining order had been denied, other issues in the senator's petition had yet to be addressed. Dela Rosa had argued the ICC warrant could not be enforced in the Philippines without a corresponding warrant from a local court.
"The issues have not been extinguished. The fight for due process, constitutional sovereignty, and the lawful protection of every Filipino under Philippine courts, continues," dela Rosa's lawyers said.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida on Friday said authorities will "definitely" seek to arrest dela Rosa and execute the ICC warrant.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores, Nestor Corrales and Karen Lema; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway)
