MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has backed down from his order to arrest a senator who is a leading critic of his war on drugs, his spokesman said Friday, just as the lawmaker was poised to be arrested in his Senate office.

Mr. Duterte, who was traveling in Jordan, made the decision after meeting with cabinet officials, who advised him to wait for the courts to decide the fate of Senator Antonio Trillanes, the spokesman said. The senator had been holding out at his office since Tuesday, when it was announced that the president had revoked an amnesty he received years ago for his involvement in two military rebellions.

“He will allow the judicial process to proceed and he will wait for the issuance of appropriate warrant of arrest before Senator Trillanes is arrested,” Harry Roque, the presidential spokesman, said in a news conference in Jordan.

Mr. Duterte, he said, “will abide by the rule of law.”

The decision put a halt — at least temporarily — to a brewing drama that saw the military and police officers gather for the imminent arrest of Mr. Trillanes in his Senate office, despite protests from opposition lawmakers who said it would be an abuse of presidential power.