By John Clifford Lintao
Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, seemed regretful that he was not able to run after rogue policemen first before pursuing drug offenders outside through “Oplan Tokhang.”
In a podcast released on August 14 by journalist Roby Alampay, Dela Rosa admitted that the drug war could have yielded a socially-acceptable result had they imposed on cleaning up the PNP first.
“‘Yung embarking the war on drugs right away, right away without ah cleaning our ranks first. Ang ginawa kasi namin is simultaneous. War on drugs against sa mga people na involved talaga sa droga. At the same time, dito sa mga tao sa gobyerno like mga pulis, mga pulitiko [na involved sa droga]. Sabay,” Dela Rosa said.
“So, I think the best model should be pagka-declare namin, nilinis muna namin ‘yung hanay namin. Then after that, banat sa labas. Internal cleansing muna, then external war. Internal war to external. Ang ginawa namin kasi sabay-sabay,” he added.
Dela Rosa likewise admitted that that rogue cops somehow benefitted from the drug war for their personal gains.
“Ang nangyari, medyo alam na natin talaga na may mga nangyari na sinasakyan ng mga loko-lokong mga sindikatong mga pulis at mga pulitiko ‘yung ating war on drugs dahil nga na-involve din sila sa war on drugs. At the same time, they are involved in the drug syndicates,” Dela Rosa said.
He however insisted that rogue policemen form a small fraction of the police force. But even then, the former top cop admitted their activities have adversely affected the administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Dela Rosa said the PNP decided to simultaneously do the internal and external cleansing because the drug problem was so bad in 2016: “Banat kaagad kasi sobrang talamak talaga.”
“Minarapat natin na sabay tayo, matamaan na ‘yung matamaan basta sabay natin to maximize the impact of this war on drugs,” he added.