No cover-up in new narco list, Bato assures


PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Amid reports of infighting among government agencies validating the new drug list of President Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa assured that not one official involved in drugs will be spared and removed from the list.

President Duterte on Sunday revealed that the reason behind the delay in his announcement of the names on the list was the fight among the members of the PNP, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) while the list is undergoing revalidation.

Dela Rosa, in a press briefing at Camp Crame on Monday, confirmed this but assured at the same time that there will be no cover-up in the release of names.

“Yes, there are some issues like that. Nagbabanggaan ‘yung source so, ‘yung iba ito bina-validate niya, ‘yung isa naman i-invalidate. So kailangang i-fine-tune muna ni President ‘yung listahan na yan (The sources would butt heads, so some would validate something, but another would invalidate it. So the President needs to fine-tune this list first),” Dela Rosa said.

“Wala naman sigurong cover-up because we are one in this war on drugs (There’s no cover-up because we are one in this war on drugs),” he added.

The police chief, a seasoned intelligence officer, said conflict among the members of the intelligence community is only “normal.”

“That’s normal. Mechanics ‘yan ng (intelligence) community meron talagang nagbabanggaan (Conflict is part of the intelligence community’s mechanics). Not for any reason kundi talagang fluid ‘yung situation,” he said.

The infighting could even “make everyone involved in this war on drugs united,” Dela Rosa added.

The new list reportedly includes 1,000 names of policemen, judges, congressmen, mayors and other local officials involved in the illegal drug trade.

Duterte said the PNP, NBI, PDEA and the Department of Interior and Local Government are still conducting thorough revalidation before he publicly announces the names.

“May mga loopholes kaya you need to plug the loopholes by being united. Otherwise, kung hindi kami magkaisa, kalat kalat ‘yung efforts ninyo. Kaya si Presidente na mismo ang nag-spearhead sa gyera natin para united kaming lahat. All government agencies magkakaisa kaming lahat,” he said.

(There are loopholes, so you need to plug the loopholes by being united. Otherwise, if there’s no unity, the efforts will be all over the place. That’s why the President himself spearheads the war on drugs so that we are all united. All government agencies are coming together as one.) JE/rga

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