"I feel I should be ready." This is how Sen. Bato dela Rosa reacted to news that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will study a proposal for the Philippines to return to the International Criminal Court.

"I feel I should be ready for any eventuality because the political situation in the Philippines is very, very fluid. So I have to be ready. Ready to fire, ready to speak, ready to sing, ready to dance. Ready lang kung anong gawin natin," he joked.

Dela Rosa, a former national police chief and implementor of President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war policy, said he is ready to face Philippine courts. "If by a foreign body, I am not willing but it is not an indicator na lalayasan ko kayo. Baka sabihin niyo sisibat na si Bato," he said.

He added: "Hindi ako lalayas. Pag sinabi ng ating korte, 'O, Bato, harapin mo 'yan, dito ka sa amin humarap', then haharap ako."

Some 6,000 people were killed in police anti-drug operations during Duterte's term, official government figures show, but ICC prosecutors estimate the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000.

Opened in 2002, the ICC is the world's only permanent court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse