MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said Wednesday no one is giving a command to “kill, kill, kill” in the police force as he insisted there is no culture of impunity within the Philippine National Police (PNP).
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday, Dela Rosa was asked whether he believes that the Oplan: Tokhang started was a factor in the behavior of Police Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca who shot to death Sonia Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony following an altercation.
Oplan Tokhang is the Philippine government’s controversial campaign against illegal drugs that took the lives of thousands of alleged drug suspects. It was previously led by Dela Rosa back when he was still the chief of the PNP.
“‘Yung behavior ng tao, apektado yan sa maraming factors. Kung ikaw ay pulis, you are in a violent world ay posibleng papasok yung violence sa utak mo. Pero hindi lahat ng pulis ganun,” Dela Rosa said.
(People’s behavior are affected by many factors. If you are a police officer and you are in a violent world, violence may enter your mind. But not all police officers are like that.)
Dela Rosa then said later in the interview that not all who died in the controversial campaign were drug suspects.
“Kung sabi mo ‘yung patayan na yan? Hindi lang naman drug suspects ‘yung namatay. Maraming pulis ang namatay, There’s violence talaga dahil this is war, war on drugs,” Dela Rosa said.
(Not all who died were drug suspects. Many police officers also died. There’s violence because this is war, war on drugs.)
“Pero sabi mo na culture of impunity, tell me kung sino. From the President down to the lowest level of command, sino bang nagsasabi na patayin, patayin, patayin? Wala naman nagsasabi. You engage using your firearms kung the situation calls na kailangang gumamit ka ng armas,” the senator added.
(There is culture of impunity? Tell me who. From the President down to the lowest level of command, who’s saying kill, kill, kill? No one is saying that. You use your firearms if the situation calls you to use it.)
However, in September this year, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero to “kill” those involved in illegal drugs, which he says continues to flow into the country through the corruption-hit agency.
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa echoed the sentiments of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año that the incident was an isolated case and that the whole police force should not be dragged into it.
“Please do not judge the profession, judge the person kasi kung profession ang jiu-judge mo, lahat na yan… Halimbawa, point something percent yang mga sir***ong pulis na yan, karamihan ay gumagawa ng matino, kawawa naman madadamay ang buong organisasyon,” Dela Rosa said.
(Please do not judge the profession, judge the person because if you will judge the entire profession, it’s unfortunate for those good cops who will be affected because of the small percentage of scalawags.)
Many netizens, however, do not agree that the Nuezca case was an isolated incident, pointing out that there are other victims of police abuse whose deaths were not caught on camera.
Some of these cases, netizens said, came from the country’s controversial and infamous war-on-drugs that Dela Rosa himself once spearheaded.