The Senate of the Philippines was placed under lockdown on Wednesday after gunshots were heard outside the building in Manila, where Senator Ronald Dela Rosa had reportedly sought refuge amid fears of arrest linked to an International Criminal Court investigation.

Authorities confirmed that shots were fired near the Senate complex, though officials said there were no casualties and have not disclosed who opened fire.

Television footage showed heavily armed police commandos and anti-riot officers entering and surrounding the Senate building while lawmakers remained inside during the security lockdown.

Dela Rosa, a close ally of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, had earlier claimed he believed his arrest was imminent and urged supporters to resist any attempt to detain him.

The senator is accused by the ICC of involvement in alleged extrajudicial killings during Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign, when Dela Rosa served as national police chief.

Thousands of suspected drug dealers and users were killed during the so-called “war on drugs,” which remains under international investigation for possible crimes against humanity.

Duterte himself has been detained in The Hague since March 2025 pending ICC proceedings.

Despite speculation surrounding a possible arrest operation, Philippine Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla denied that authorities were attempting to detain Dela Rosa.

“We are not here to arrest Senator Dela Rosa,” Remulla told reporters. “In fact, we are here to protect him.”

He added that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr had issued “strict instructions” to ensure the safety of senators during the incident.

Officials said Dela Rosa remained safe and under security protection inside the Senate complex.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the gunfire, while authorities continue investigating the incident.

Senate speaker Alan Peter Cayetano appealed to the public for assistance, asking anyone with video footage of the shooting to share it with investigators.

Outside the Senate, protesters gathered demanding Dela Rosa’s detention and extradition to stand trial alongside Duterte.

The senator’s legal team has already petitioned the Supreme Court of the Philippines to block any extradition process.

The political crisis comes amid growing tensions between the Duterte family and the administration of Marcos.

Although the two political dynasties were once allies, their relationship collapsed two years ago and has since developed into a bitter feud.

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives of the Philippines voted to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Sara Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter.

The Senate, where Duterte allies still hold significant influence, has the authority to decide whether the impeachment effort succeeds.

The House of Representatives of the Philippines has voted to impeach Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte for a second time, escalating a deepening political conflict that could threaten her chances of running for president in 2028.

Monday’s vote now sends the impeachment case to the Senate of the Philippines, where senators will decide whether Duterte should be convicted and removed from office.

If found guilty, the 47-year-old daughter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte would also be barred from holding public office in the future.

Sara Duterte is currently considered one of the leading early contenders to succeed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the next presidential election, despite an increasingly bitter fallout between the former allies.

The impeachment complaint centres on allegations that Duterte misused public funds and made public threats against Marcos, his wife and his cousin, a former House speaker.

The vice-president had previously been impeached in 2025 over the same accusations, but the Supreme Court of the Philippines halted the process on technical grounds before a Senate trial could begin.

The case resurfaced this year after a House committee reviewing the allegations concluded there were sufficient grounds to proceed with impeachment.

Duterte has strongly denied wrongdoing and dismissed the proceedings as politically motivated.

In a formal written response, she described the impeachment case as “nothing more than a scrap of paper” and declined to attend committee hearings examining the accusations.

Following Monday’s vote, Duterte’s legal team said the responsibility now lies with her accusers to prove their allegations in accordance with the law.

“The burden now rests on the accusers to substantiate their claims,” her defence counsel said in a statement.

A total of 257 out of 290 lawmakers present voted in favour of impeachment, comfortably surpassing the one-third threshold required to send the case to the Senate.

Political analysts say the vote highlighted the strength of Marcos’ influence within the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are often aligned with the sitting president in the Philippines’ patronage-driven political system.

However, Duterte’s fate in the Senate remains uncertain.

Unlike House members, Philippine senators are elected nationwide and are generally viewed as more politically independent because many harbour presidential or vice-presidential ambitions of their own.

The Senate has historically served as a launching platform for future national candidates, making the outcome of any impeachment trial difficult to predict.

Health authorities in the United States and France have confirmed new hantavirus cases linked to the outbreak aboard the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, as more than 90 passengers continue to be repatriated from Spain’s Canary Islands.

US health officials said an American passenger who returned from the vessel tested positive for hantavirus, while another US national on the same repatriation flight showed mild symptoms.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, both passengers travelled back to the United States in “biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.”

All 17 American citizens aboard the repatriation flight are expected to undergo medical assessments at a healthcare facility in Nebraska. Authorities also said seven additional US passengers who had returned earlier are being monitored in their home states.

A British national living in the US was also evacuated alongside the American passengers.

Meanwhile, French Health Minister Stephane Rist confirmed that a French woman who tested positive is isolating in Paris, warning that her condition was worsening.

French authorities said 22 contact cases linked to the woman had already been identified and traced.

The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius has already claimed the lives of three passengers — a Dutch couple and a German woman. Officials confirmed that at least two of the deaths were directly linked to the virus.

The World Health Organization believes some passengers may have contracted the Andes strain of hantavirus while travelling through remote areas of South America before infections spread among individuals onboard.

Hantaviruses are typically transmitted through contact with infected rodents, including exposure to rodent urine, droppings or saliva. However, the Andes strain is one of the few known forms capable of limited human-to-human transmission.

Symptoms can include fever, severe fatigue, muscle pain, stomach problems, vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the US decision not to fully adopt the organisation’s recommendations for managing returning passengers “may have risks.”

The WHO has advised a 42-day isolation period for those leaving the ship.

However, acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jay Bhattacharya said authorities did not want to create unnecessary public alarm, stressing that person-to-person spread remains rare.

“It should not be treated like the Covid virus,” Bhattacharya said.

Images from the Canary Islands showed cruise passengers wearing protective blue gowns, face masks and medical caps while disembarking at the port of Granadilla de Abona on Sunday.