Show up at Senate probe, Bato told

Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa should appear at the Senate and prove to the legislators that the government was not behind the spate of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said the President had no special instructions to the police chief, who would be defending the administration’s antidrug war in a forthcoming Senate investigation.

“The only guidance is to just go there and show up. Show up and explain to the Senators, show them the empirical evidence that the police are not conducting extrajudicial killings, and if there are any extrajudicial killings, it is not state policy but the work of criminals,” Andanar told a Manila forum.

The administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign has drawn concern after it resulted in a spate of killings of drug suspects, either in vigilante-style executions or in supposed shoot-outs with arresting police operatives.