Police forensic teams arrive after gunshots were heard at the Senate in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines 13 May 2026 Authorities have not given a definitive reasons for what led to the gunshots, as Senate security ordered the clearing of the area near where the gunshots were heard. Photo: VCG

A day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where a lawmaker wanted by the International Criminal Court(ICC) was holed up fearing his arrest, the Philippine president called an emergency meeting of top officials on Thursday amid widening political tensions, Reuters reported. A driver employed at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested, local media GMA reported.

The suspect, identified only by his alias "Mel Oragon," was described as a 44-year-old Filipino male employed as a driver at the NBI, according to a police report obtained by GMA News Online from the Southern Police District (SPD) on Thursday.

Gunshots were reported inside the Philippine Senate complex on Wednesday night amid tensions surrounding reports of an attempted arrest of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, prompting top government officials and security forces to rush to the scene, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, Ronald dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte's "war on ‌drugs," has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is facing.

Speaking in a video on Facebook, Ronald dela Rosa had hours earlier urged people to turn out to block his arrest and handover to the ICC, per Reuters.

However, NBI chief said there was 100 percent no order to arrest Dela Rosa, Philstar reported, and Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said he was there to secure dela Rosa and not arrest him, per Reuters. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday night said no state security forces were involved in the shooting incident inside the Senate complex and denied reports that government agencies had been ordered to arrest Dela Rosa, as reported by Philippine News Agency.

The incident sparked chaos and confusion, 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, Reuters reported.

The shooting incident raised questions from several Filipinos who expressed doubt about the authenticity of the events, Interaksyon, a Philippine digital news website under Philstar reported, noting a Facebook page questioned why some senators were still in the building when the shooting occurred, noting that the session had already ended.

While the Senate on May 11 placed him under its protective custody and said Dela Rosa cannot be arrested inside the chamber, and that Dela Rosa is hoping for the issuance of a temporary restraining order of the Supreme Court on the ICC warrant, the high court did not issue the Temporary Restraining Order amid the urgent manifestation that Dela Rosa filed Monday, and the Supreme Court also ordered Dela Rosa and his lawyers to file their reply within 72 hours from the receipt of the comment of the government, ABS-CBN reported.

Marcos said that both the Senate and the police will investigate who was behind the attack and whether destabilisation of the government was a motive, per Reuters.

Currently, the available information remains limited, and the incident reflects an intensified eruption of factional power struggles within the government, exposing deeper fractures in the country's political landscape, Dai Fan, vice dean of the School of International Studies at Jinan University, told the Global Times on Thursday.