When push comes to shove, which will incoming Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa follow: The orders of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte or due process and the rule of law?
“Huwag niyo ako ipitin (Don’t put me on the spot),” he told reporters in a press briefing on Monday at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, saying it was like being caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
Pressed for an answer, the otherwise boisterous, joke-cracking De la Rosa answered softly but firmly: “I will balance it. I’m a great balancer. I will balance in a way that I will be able to follow Mayor Duterte’s orders, and to follow the law.”
What is his position on the May 29 abduction of Governor Generoso town police chief Chief Insp. Arnold Ongachen, who remains in the hands of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Davao Oriental?
Duterte earlier said he no longer wanted Ongachen rescued leaving the police chief to be tried by the communist group, after he received word from the NPA that Ongachen was in possession of a sachet of shabu when he was captured.
De la Rosa said that under his command, the PNP would still try to rescue Ongachen.
“That is [the military’s] mandate, especially in conflict areas,” De la Rosa said. “And that is one of our personnel. We won’t abandon him.”
But De la Rosa was also quick to defend Duterte’s statements. “What Duterte may have meant when he said he won’t rescue him was that he won’t be the main effort in his rescue from the NPA. Not that there won’t be actual police or military operations,” De la Rosa added.
“Because he’s always the one the families contact… Or when the NPA wants to release someone, he’s the one they call,” he said of Duterte.
Last week, a video surfaced showing Ongachen safe with the NPA and expressing hope for his release. A southern Mindanao police investigation also cleared him of the NPA’s accusation of narcotics involvement.
De la Rosa has assured the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that the police would only seek to enforce the law, following the spate of drug suspects recently getting killed in police operations.
“I would like to give the assurance to the CHR that the police are not guns for hire. The police only follow the law and implement the law, which really needs to be followed… How I wish they would look at it in that manner,” he said.
Gun-grabbing cases
“There are real gun-grabbing cases, especially those who are high on shabu (methampethamine hydrochloride). They are paranoid. Some jump out of cars under the influence of drugs,” he said.
In an earlier press briefing, De la Rosa gave his position on the CHR’s disapproval of paying bounties for criminals.
“If what they’re afraid of is [the bounty system] will get abused, if they’re afraid that it will cause massive vigilantism throughout the country, all the more we [the police] are afraid of that. We the police are really against that, because [we] are maintaining peace and order. If the situation gets that disorderly, it’s all for nothing. The police will be useless,” he said.
“If that’s their apprehension, it’s the same with us. We don’t want that. It needs to be managed properly so it won’t get that bad,” he added.
No less than Duterte had made pronouncements of bounties for the capture and killing of drug lords.
Though apparently sharing the human rights commission’s apprehension on vigilantism, De la Rosa was quick to defend Duterte’s bounty offer as “just a pronouncement.”
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