Bato lashes back at drug war supporters-turned-critics

Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Friday lashed back at members of the House of Representatives who became critics of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, calling them “unprincipled” and “opportunistic” politicians.

“Before, they were singing hallelujah to us, saying ‘Thank you for the drug war. Thank you for the peace and order … Thank you for keeping the streets safe from the drug menace,’” Dela Rosa said at a Zoom press briefing.

“But now, they are saying ‘You are the villain. Why did you conduct the war on drugs? What you did was wrong,’” he said. “It’s so sad that people easily change their views depending on who is in charge of the government.”

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“To those who were so fast in changing their stand and their views, all I can say is that these people are so opportunistic. They forgot their principles,” he added.

Silent about abuses

Dela Rosa, who rolled out Duterte’s bloody antidrug campaign as the first national police chief of his administration, did not identify the lawmakers speaking up against the drug war after supporting it.

But among those who were silent about the alleged abuses in the fight against illegal drugs during the previous administration were Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, chair of the House committee on public order and safety, and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, head of the committee on dangerous drugs.

Fernandez and Barbers are part of the House “supercommittee,” or “quad comm,” that consolidated the ongoing inquiries into the Philippine offshore gaming operators, the war on drugs and cases of extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.

‘It’s the trend’

According to Dela Rosa, he did not expect that their former political allies would turn their backs on the former president and his family.

He pointed out that Vice President Sara Duterte ran and won alongside President Marcos as part of the “UniTeam” alliance between two of the country’s most influential political clans.

“We all know that it’s the trend, that their loyalty is to whoever is in the new administration and the previous administration will suddenly become the villain,” he said. “But I was not expecting this to happen in this particular administration because we had a good relationship as the Marcoses and the Dutertes worked together.”

‘Leftists,’ ‘yellows’

The police general-turned-lawmaker also claimed that the Marcos administration had entered into an “alliance” with the “Leftists” and the “yellows” in going after Duterte, his family and their allies.

Dela Rosa was referring to the Makabayan bloc in the House and former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is identified with the Liberal Party.

“There seems to be—and I really can feel it—an alliance (involving) this government, the Leftists and the yellows. They are working together just to pin down the Dutertes,” he said.

“It pains me a lot,” Dela Rosa admitted.

In connection with his role in the antinarcotics campaign, Dela Rosa said he would file the appropriate petition in the Supreme Court should the International Criminal Court order his arrest in connection with the investigation of allegations of crimes against humanity in Duterte’s war on drugs.