Sawt Falasteen - Gunshots at Philippine Senate as lawmaker wanted by ICC holds out

At least five shots rang out, AFP journalists inside the Senate said, minutes after soldiers with rifles and protective gear went up the stairs of the building.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla told reporters there were no casualties, adding that the search for the gunmen was ongoing.

The dramatic scene unfolded as Senator Ronald Dela Rosa -- former president Rodrigo Duterte's top enforcer during his bloody drug war -- holed up in the Senate complex to dodge arrest and transfer to the Netherlands over alleged crimes against humanity.

The fugitive senator remains inside the building, said Remulla, who arrived on the scene minutes after the gunfire.

"I am here to ensure the integrity of the Senate and the protection of all the senators," Remulla said.

He added that Dela Rosa "is safe. He is with security personnel. He has been informed of our activities. We have assured him that there is no warrant of arrest to be served."

Earlier Wednesday, Dela Rosa had appealed to the military to oppose attempts to detain him, urging former colleagues to resist any move by President Ferdinand Marcos's government to hand him over to the ICC.

"My fellow men in uniform" should "express their sentiment" that the government "should not hand me over to foreigners", he said.

- 'Under attack' -

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, ordered the government on Wednesday to reply within three days to Dela Rosa's petition to bar authorities from arresting and handing him over to the ICC.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who had stopped government agents from arresting his ally Dela Rosa, said on his official Facebook page he did not know who had fired the shots.

"We heard gunshots and we don't know what is happening. Everyone's locked in their rooms now. We cannot go out, we cannot secure our other staff," he added.

"Why are we under attack here?"

Melvin Matibag, director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) whose agents had attempted to arrest Dela Rosa at the Senate on Monday, denied that his officers had fired their guns.

"We were on a stand down," he told ABS-CBN network in an interview, adding there were no NBI agents inside the Senate when the shooting occurred.

A television journalist was seen crying as she reported live from inside the building, while another senator, Robin Padilla, urged reporters to evacuate.

Dela Rosa, known as "Bato", served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018 during the early phase of Duterte's anti-drug campaign.

The crackdown left thousands dead, many of them drug users and low-level narcotics peddlers, according to human rights monitors.

Duterte was arrested in March last year, flown to the Netherlands on the same day, and is detained in The Hague awaiting trial.

Dela Rosa had not been seen publicly since November before emerging on Monday to take part in an unexpected vote that helped Duterte loyalists capture control of the Senate.

C.Hamad--SF-PST