Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald “Bato’ dela Rosa INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
Amid criticisms against the police for allegedly killing innocent victims in their war against drugs, Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Ronald “Bato” De la Rosa said policemen value lives as they, too, have families to protect.
De la Rosa on Monday admitted that it is painful for the police to be accused of disregarding people’s right to life.
“Kung ‘yung tao ay nasasaktan, ‘yung pulis po ninyo ay tao rin. Nasasaktan rin. Kami po ay nagmamahal sa ating kapwa. Ayaw talaga namin may masaktan unnecessarily. Kung may masaktan man, siguro last resort na ‘yan,” the police chief said in a media briefing at Camp Crame.
(People get hurt, and the police are also people. They also get hurt. We love our fellow countrymen. We don’t want anyone to get unnecessarily hurt. If someone does get hurt, maybe it was the last resort.)
De la Rosa said policemen are professional enough to avoid being reckless during operations against illegal drugs and mistaking innocent people for drug suspects.
“’Yung mga pulis na ‘yan, may mga anak din ‘yan eh. May pamilya din ‘yan. Pare-pareho tayong tao (These policemen have children, too. They have families. We are all human). We value lives. We want to preserve lives,” he said.
The PNP chief has maintained that he does not condone vigilantism as the number of casualties increases every day.
Since Duterte was elected, the Inquirer has reported 467 killings nationwide. Some families are claiming that the victims killed vigilante-style were never involved in drugs. JE/rga
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