Several men sit inside an alleged secret cell at the Manila Police Station 1 in Tondo. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Ronaldo “Bato” dela Rosa’ s defense of policemen behind the reported “secret cell” at a Manila police station was ” incomprehensible” and “very arrogant,” Senator Panfilo Lacson has said.
Dela Rosa said his men did nothing wrong when they kept drug suspects in a dark, cramped and windowless cell behind a shelf at the Manila Police Station 1 in Tondo, Manila.
“As long as they haven’t hurt or extorted from the detainees, it’s OK with me,” the PNP chief said in a television interview over the weekend.
READ: Bato defends cops, slams CHR over ‘secret cell’
But Lacson said dela Rosa “misses the point entirely.”
“Defending policemen for maintaining an unlivable secret prison cell hidden behind a book shelf inside a police station is incomprehensible. It is also very arrogant,” he said in a text message Sunday night.
“Ewan ko nga bakit ganun naging comment niya. Plain view pa lang, kahit wala nang magbigay ng salaysay, kita na natin na may violation of law. In short, he’s defending the indefensible,” added the senator, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
Lacson also headed the PNP during the time of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. CBB
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