Ping: Focus on PNP cleansing, not Senate bid

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa should focus first on cleansing the PNP ranks before campaigning for a possible senatorial bid in 2019.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson gave this advice to Dela Rosa yesterday, saying the top cop has apparently neglected enforcing discipline in the police force.

Dela Rosa has come under fire following the murder of a South Korean businessman at the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame by police anti-drug agents who kidnapped and killed him even after his wife had paid a P5-million ransom.

The incident came as a video circulated in social media showing Dela Rosa enjoying a concert of Bryan Adams.

The PNP chief was also criticized for flying to Las Vegas for the boxing match of Sen. Manny Pacquiao last November, with the boxer paying for all the expenses of Dela Rosa and his family. It was when Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa was killed in his jail cell by policemen supposedly serving a search warrant.

Some political quarters see him as a possible contender in the senatorial elections in 2019.

“My advice to him is that it (senatorial bid) will come as matter of course. Right now, he must simply do his job. The reversal of fortunes in politics can change overnight,” Lacson said over dzBB.

“Two months after he took over, many said he (Dela Rosa) was shoo-in if he runs in 2019 but now his situation is not so certain,” he said.

Lacson described political popularity as a fickle-minded commodity where the people’s confidence and trust can disappear overnight with just one mistake.

He said Dela Rosa appears not to know how to handle his sudden popularity.

Lacson however said it was not too late for Dela Rosa to bounce back as he still has a year in the PNP to prove himself.

Lacson added he is not keen on joining calls for Dela Rosa’s resignation, saying he knows him to be a humble person and an efficient and hardworking junior officer when they were together in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

He said the PNP might not be ready with Dela Rosa’s replacement if he resigns.

“His advantage is that not only does he know his job, the President’s trust in him is very high, and that’s very important. If you’re the chief PNP and it’s difficult for you to communicate with the President, that’s not good,” Lacson said.

A major failure

Congressmen led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez called on Dela Rosa to resign his post and spare the President further embarrassment.

Alvarez said the kidnap-slay of Jee Ick-joo by anti-drug operatives at Camp Crame is a mortal sin and command responsibility enough for the top cop to relinquish his post.

“The commission of a heinous crime right under his very nose is not only an insult but a clear indication that he has lost the respect of his people,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez noted Dela Rosa has been “everywhere doing mundane things like singing videoke and watching concerts.”

Buhay party-list Rep Lito Atienza supported Alvarez in the call for Dela Rosa to resign.

“We support Speaker (Pantaleon) Alvarez’s call for him to resign because of that major failure to the national police leadership. This is a big scandal for the country, the Duterte administration and the ongoing war on drugs,” Atienza said.

“Under the principle of command responsibility, it dictates that he should take the bullet for the President and no alibis can possibly soften public anger on what had happened to the South Korean victim,” he added.

A former police general-turned-lawmaker, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop shared Atienza’s view, saying that voluntarily leaving the police force would give Duterte a free hand, or can ease his burden of appointing Dela Rosa’s successor.

“If I were PNP chief Dela Rosa, I would tender a courtesy resignation to the President,” Acop said. – Edith Regalado, Delon Porcalla, Ben Serrano