Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa (File photo from Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has denied his alleged attendance at a courtesy call made by police officers to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
This event is being connected to the killing of three Chinese in the Davao Penal and Prison Farm (DPPF) in August 2016.
Dela Rosa — who served as the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief during the Duterte administration — was addressing Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano’s claims at the House quad committee’s hearing on the bloody “drug war” of Duterte.
The quad committee consists of House panels on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, public accounts, and human rights.
READ: Espenido: Dela Rosa order for Albuera drug cleanup meant killing suspects
“It is very clear from the recorded video of that hearing that Cong. Paduano is very excited and very insistent on my alleged presence in that courtesy call despite repeated denials from all the resource persons,” dela Rosa said in a statement on Sunday.
“Again, I vehemently deny that I was a party to that courtesy call or meeting,” he repeated.
“The effort to wholesale former President Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and myself in one single stroke is very evident in his line of questioning,” he observed.
Citing the quad comm’s seventh hearing, Dela Rosa said National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, who was questioned by Paduano, told the committee that he “cannot recall seeing” the senator in the gathering.
Likewise, retired Police Colonel Royina Garma also stated that she did not remember dela Rosa in the courtesy call.
Dela Rosa’s name was mentioned in the previous quad comm hearings.
On August 28, Police Colonel Jovie Espenido, a central figure in the Duterte administration’s drug war, claimed that dela Rosa’s order to rid Albuera, Leyte of illegal drugs meant “killing” the people linked to the drug trade.
Espenido then said dela Rosa called him up at the start of then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2016 to ask for his help in the drug war.
The PNP’s former top boss, however, refuted this claim, describing it as “concocted and scripted.”
He also suspected that someone “recruited” the former police chief of Albuera town in Leyte province to face the congressional probe.
INQUIRER.net sought the side of Paduano on dela Rosa’s remarks.
He has yet to reply as of posting time.