‘Bring it on’: Bounty on ‘Bato’ upped to P50M

Incoming PNP head Chief Supt. Ronald dela Rosa. JAYMEE T. GAMIL/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The price on his head has been ramped up to P50 million, according to the next Philippine National Police chief, who added that this was because the convicted drug lords who want him dead could not find any takers with their initial offer of P10 million.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has a P50 million bounty on his head, too, incoming PNP head Chief Supt. Ronald de la Rosa revealed on Thursday on an ANC news show.

“They reportedly increased it because they had a hard time looking for takers at P10 million,” the former Davao City police chief said.

He got the information from someone who was in a meeting of drug lords confined at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, he told reporters on Wednesday.

“Bring it on, really, bring it on. You come… anytime… any place,” he addressed the drug lords.

De la Rosa has been making the rounds of news media, presenting the law enforcement face of the incoming administration ahead of Duterte’s official assumption to the presidency on June 30.

Duterte has vowed to eradicate or at least minimize the drug menace in three to six months. He has offered up to P5 million for the arrest or killing of a drug lord. Smaller amounts were offered for the arrest or death as well of lower ranking members of drug syndicates.

He has called out three police generals he said were involved in illegal drugs, and urged them to resign before he assumes office and names them publicly.

De la Rosa said he has his own list of drug lords and police officers involved in illegal drugs.

He said the P5 million had nothing to do with it—the PNP would stamp out illegal drugs and criminality with or without a reward.

“Whether or not there’s a P5-million reward, those drug lords will die if they fight back,” he said in a separate interview over Radyo Inquirer.

Not afraid to die

He said that with a P50-million price on his head he was taking extra precautions but he was not afraid to die.

“If it’s your time to go, you can go even if you have a battalion of bodyguards with you… I am always alert day and night, especially if I am not doing anything,” he said.

Besides, he told the reporters, “Am I that handsome that I would be afraid to die?”

“I am not afraid to die,” said the bald police chief who goes by the nickname “Bato” (The Rock).

He pledged support for incoming Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, who has vowed to clean up the New Bilibid Prison from which the convicted drug lords continue to direct their illicit operations outside the prison walls.

“I will support whatever plans of the incoming justice secretary. If he needs manpower, I will give it to him. We will support him,” De la Rosa said. With a report from Aries Joseph Hegina, Inquirer.net