Bato on resignation calls: ‘How cruel’
Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa finds calls for him to quit his post as “cruel,” saying he can’t even find time to sleep as he’s too busy solving the country’s drug problem and weeding out bad eggs in the police force.
“Akala ba nila nag-eenjoy ako sa trabaho ko gusto nila ako magresign? Sabihin nila sa Presidente na paalisin ako (Do they think I’m enjoying my work so they want me to resign? They better tell the President to fire me),” Dela Rosa told reporters at Camp Crame in an ambush interview on Friday.
“Grabe naman sila. How cruel of them to say that na pagresign ako. Wala na nga akong pahinga. Wala na nga akong tulog (That’s too much. How cruel of them to say that I should resign. I don’t have proper rest and sleep) but anyway we cannot satisfy everyone,” he said.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Dela Rosa’s fellow Duterte ally, said he should immediately resign as the chief of the 160,000-strong police force over the “meltdown of PNP discipline amid ‘Tokhang for Ransom’ cases.”
READ: House Speaker calls for Bato resignation
Alvarez criticized Dela Rosa for his “interest in having a showbiz career” rather than buckling down to work and addressing the problems hounding the police organization.
#BatoResign also trended on Twitter when it was first reported that the brutal killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo was committed inside the national police headquarters, few meters away from his office.
READ: Korean businessman killed inside SUV near PNP chief Bato’s office
Dela Rosa said he could only leave his post if he would succeed in declaring the Philippines a drug-free country.
But he took responsibility for Jee’s kidnap for ransom allegedly committed by a group of PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group cops.
“Inaamin ko naman talaga ‘yung nangyari na dito pa pinatay. Kapalpakan namin ‘yan. Pulis ‘yan e. Kagaguhan, kasindikatauhan na ginawa. Sagot ko ‘yan dahil ako ang chief PNP (I admit that the victim was killed inside the [PNP headquarters]. It’s our misdoing. Cops were involved. They committed a wrongdoing. I take full responsiblity for the crime because I’m the chief PNP),” he said.
