PNP chief turns gun-shy on 2019 Senate run

Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Ronald dela Rosa INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Philippine National Police chief turned gun-shy on Monday about running for the Senate in 2019, after the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll showed him nowhere in the Top 12.

Fielding questions from reporters during a news conference at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa declined to talk about politics, saying he was focused on his job during the three-month extension of his term as PNP chief.

“For now, I will just work. We need to focus on work because if you say that I will run, all my decision making would be described as political, that Bato’s brain is just about politics, that he only wants to look good,” Dela Rosa said when asked about his fall from the ranks of potential winners in the 2019 Senate race.

“It will ruin my plans and strategy [for the PNP], that’s why I won’t comment (about his senatorial plans). I will work the best way I can help the President bring about reforms,” he added.

The SWS poll, taken from Dec. 8 to 16, showed Senators Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito and Sonny Angara, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. among voters’ Top 12 picks for the Senate in the 2019 midterm elections.

Top 20

Dela Rosa was ranked 10-12 in the SWS November survey. But he fell from that spot in the December poll, although he remained in the Top 20, according to SWS.

The PNP chief said he would be grateful if he would be considered for the Senate—presumably by President Duterte’s party, PDP-Laban—but added that he “should not consider this very seriously because I might be lured toward saying that I am eyeing [a Senate seat].”

Pressed further and asked what would be his platform should he decide to run, Dela Rosa said: “I will answer that in due time if I need to answer that question.”