Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. Screen grab/Senate PRIB file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Saturday said there are “favorable developments” regarding the status of his US visa, which was canceled in January last year.
“May favorable ng developments na. Tinatawagan na, nagko-contact na kami, nag-uusap na noong chargé d’affaires nila. Mabait naman, napakabait naman at naguusap naman kami,” Dela Rosa told DWIZ when asked about updates on his revoked US visa.
(There are favorable developments. I am calling, contacting their chargé d’affaires. They are nice to me and we are talking to each other.)
Asked when his visa will return, the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said: “I don’t know, wala pa akong timeline [I have no timeline].”
The US revoked the senator’s visa in 2020 due to his role, being the PNP chief, in the government’s bloody drug war, which has been ongoing since 2016.
It was also the cancelation of Dela Rosa’s visa that prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US.
New York based watchdog Human Rights Watch said Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs worsened as deaths increased amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.