Senator Ronald Dela Rosa. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Friday urged former Iloilo City mayor Jed Mabilog to name the police official who warned him against going back to the Philippines during the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Mabilog admitted before the House of Representatives that he once feared for his life in 2017. He said he fled the country for Japan and was supposed to go back to the Philippines after having a conversation with then top cop Dela Rosa, but was only advised to the opposite by a police official whom he did not name.
According to Mabilog, the general had warned him that if returned to the Philippines, he would be coerced to “point fingers” at former Senators Mar Roxas and Franklin Drilon as “drug lords.”
READ: Mabilog bares ‘plan’ to force him to tag Roxas, Drilon as ‘drug lords’
Dela Rosa has denied the allegation.
“Meron bang ginawa si [former President Rodrigo] Duterte na ganun noon? Wala naman. Imposible naman yan mangyari. Paano mo idadamay si Senator Drilon saka si Mar Roxas? Anong basis mo nga kung gusto mong idawit?” Dela Rosa told reporters in a phone patch interview on Friday.
(Did former President Rodrigo Duterte do something like that before? None. That is impossible to happen. How do you implicate Senator Drilon and Mar Roxas? What is your basis if you want to implicate them?)
“Dapat pangalanan niya sinong general nagsabi sa kanya para tanong natin anong basis niya? Saan niya kinuha ang impormasyon na yan? Dapat pangalanan niya sino ‘yun,” he added.
(He should name the general who told him that so that we can ask what is his basis. Where did he get that information? He should name him.)
‘Demolition job’
Dela Rosa also claimed that the House’s decision to invite Mabilog to its quad panel’s inquiry on the drug war is only a part of the plan to discredit him and the Dutertes.
“This is a demolition job para masira kami lahat at hihina si Vice President Sara Duterte sa 2028. That’s a purely demolition job. Halata naman. Ano ba in the aid of legislation na makikita mo dyan? Wala naman akong nakikita. Matagal naman yung mga imbestigasyon na yan,” he said.
(This is a demolition job to destroy us all and weaken Vice President Sara Duterte in 2028. That’s a purely demolition job. It’s obvious. What is in the aid of legislation that you can see there? I don’t even see anything.)
Pressed to disclose what was the intent behind the move, Dela Rosa alleged that it’s because House Speaker Martin Romualdez “wants to be the president.”