Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, PNP chief (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
Releasing information on the government’s operation in its war on drugs could endanger the lives of police officers and their families, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald dela Rosa said Monday.
Dela Rosa was reacting to the Supreme Court’s order to provide the judiciary with the full documentation of more than 3,000 deaths under President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
“Yung pagdisclose ng pangalan sa operations pwede ma-endanger ang buhay mo at buhay ng pamilya mo dahil napakalaking sindikato ang tinitira mo,” Dela Rosa said at a press conference.
“Once you give it, anybody can access the information,” he added. “Kawawa naman yung mga pulis natin nagtatrabaho at sinusuong buhay nila sa panganib.”
[What a wretched lot the police would be who are just working and putting their lives in danger.]
He said that if judges and prosecutors were being killed what more the police.
Given the chance, he said he would be willing to explain his side to the Supreme Court.
“Sana bigyan ako ng chance makapag-discuss sa kanila,” he said.
[I hope I get a change to discuss the issue with them.]
Earlier, Solicitor General Jose Calida urged the high court to reconsider its order requiring them to submit police records of over 3,000 deaths on the war on drugs.
Calida said the information requested by the high court are “sensitive” and has national security implications.
He said the right to information is not absolute.
“The production of documents required involve information and other sensitive matters that in the long run will have an undeniable effect on national security,” Calida said. /atm