15/05/2026

FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2026

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ICC suspect has fled: Reports MANILA: Philippine authorities were seeking confirmation yesterday of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs”, has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that o Marcos faces political test Senator Bato is no longer in the Senate premises. But we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told a press conference. Gunshots were heard on Wednesday inside the Senate and people there scrambled for cover, hours after dela Rosa, 64, appealed on social media for supporters to mobilise, saying law enforcement agents were coming to arrest him. The incident sparked chaos, with a heavy presence of police and armed guards at the Senate, protests outside and more than a dozen shots fired just moments after marines were called in to bolster security. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr met security chiefs yesterday and police said one person had been detained.

NBI driver detained over Senate gunfire MANILA: Philippine police have taken into custody a suspect in a shooting that erupted inside the Senate building on Wednesday night. A police statement released yesterday identified the man as a driver employed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). It identified the suspect as Mel Oragon, a 44-year-old Filipino, who allegedly fired several shots using an undetermined firearm inside the Senate premises at around 7.50pm. “He was arrested at the area of the incident, at the second floor of the senate building,” Philippine police spokesman Brig-Gen Randulf Tuano told reporters. Police seized live ammunition from the man, who was being tested for gunshot residue. Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla had said senate security fired “warning shots” at several unknown armed men who had gone up the senate stairway. The gunmen later fired into the air and left, he added, while senators, including Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, barricaded themselves inside their offices. Videos circulating on social media showed uniformed soldiers inside the Senate building before the incident, prompting questions about their presence. The Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, Gen Romeo Brawner, said soldiers deployed in the Senate were part of the military’s regular facility security detail and were not the ones who fired the shots. – Bernama/AFP QUETTA: At least five soldiers and seven rebels were killed in clashes in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said yesterday. An improvised explosive device detonated near a convoy of paramilitary Frontier Corps troops and was followed by a clash, they said. “Five soldiers were killed and another was critically wounded,” a senior official said. “During the operation, a group of terrorists was located and engaged by troops. During the exchange of fire, seven terrorists were killed,” the army’s media wing said in a statement. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province’s most active separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to AFP. The group, which the United States has designated a terrorist organisation, said it had targeted military installations, police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and bombings. The BLA has intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region and foreign firms. Last year, the separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a two-day siege. – AFP 12 killed in Pakistan clashes

Earlier yesterday, while entering the heavily guarded Senate, dela Rosa’s lawyer Jimmy Bondoc said he spoke to him during the night and believed he was inside. “I asked him if you have plans to leave, he said none,” Bondoc told reporters. Marcos has sought to distance his government from the Senate drama and insisted no order was given to apprehend dela Rosa, who on Tuesday appealed to the president not to arrest him. National Bureau of Investigation chief Melvin Matibag confirmed intelligence officers from the agency were at a building near the Senate on Wednesday, but were unarmed. The possibility the incident could have been staged was also part of the investigation, he said. In an interview with DZBB aired early yesterday, dela Rosa said he will “exhaust all available remedies” to block his ICC transfer and having learned about conditions Duterte was being held under, he was no longer willing to fight his case in The Hague. It was unclear when the interview was conducted. Dela Rosa has denied involvement in illegal killings. – Reuters

Police arriving at the Senate on Wednesday night after reports of gunshots. – AFPPIC

VP impeachment trial to open next week MANILA: Philippine lawmakers are set to open an impeachment trial on Vice-President Sara Duterte next week, officials said yesterday of the second attempt to force her from office. vice-president the following day, before the hearing of the evidence begins, Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano told a news conference.

“There always has to be legal grounds, and I will decide based on truth and evidence,” Cayetano said. While the vice-president only needs nine votes from the full 24-seat Senate for an acquittal, conviction on any of the four charges would mean her removal and a permanent ban from public office. Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, told AFP the Senate is now even more in Sara’s favour after candidates loyal to their family won five of 12 open seats in last May’s mid-term elections. “Even last time, they already had the numbers to acquit. Those nine supporters were solid and didn’t waver. In this new regime, they just got bigger and stronger, more certain,”Yusingco said. On Monday, the senate elected Cayetano, a long-time ally of the Dutertes, as its new president. – AFP The black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured. The draft legislation would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of

Two-thirds of the 24-seat Senate would be needed to convict her, but that chamber is controlled by party affiliates and allies, which makes a conviction appear to be unlikely. Sara, daughter of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, was impeached or formally accused on Monday of graft charges and an alleged assassination plot against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a trial in the Senate, and a guilty verdict would see her removed and banned from elected office for life. Sara has announced a 2028 presidential bid that would be derailed if she were to be convicted. The senators will be sworn in on Monday as an impeachment court, and a summons will be sent to the

Cayetano showing the confirmation letter. – REUTERSPIC

Myanmar proposes death sentence for cyberscam offences YANGON: Myanmar published a parliamentary Bill yesterday forcing them to commit online scams”.

The “Anti-Online Scam Bill” is the first legislation presented by the new government headed by President Min Aung Hlaing. The Bill promises a new committee to cooperate with other countries to combat the illicit industry, another apparent invitation for foreign engagement with the new government. – AFP

The “Anti-Online Scam Bill” also includes a maximum sentence of life in prison for those who “run an online scam centre” and those who “commit digital currency scams (crypto scams)”. Myanmar’s parliament is next scheduled to sit in the first week of June.

proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce victims into working in online scam centres. Internet fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar, targeting web users with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons.