Dela Rosa leads SAF turnover at Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa headed the turnover of new members of Special Action Force to the New Bilibid Prison on Tuesday morning.

Dela Rosa led the turnover of a new batch of SAF that will replace at least 300 commandos stationed at the NBP's maximum security compound and Building 14 that houses high-profile inmates.

The deployment of the police's elite force to the national penitentiary was initiated by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in July 2016, in a bid to curb the illegal drug trade inside the Bilibid, that Aguirre said, flourished under the watch of his predecessor, Sen. Leila de Lima.

Dela Rosa, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 55 last January 21, is set to head the Bureau of Corrections next.

An attached agency of the Department of Justice, the BuCor is tasked to implement effective rehabilitation and safekeeping of prisoners.

The police chief's term was extended by President Rodrigo Duterte for "two to three months," citing pending projects at the PNP for Dela Rosa.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, last week, said that "newly convicted Chinese drug lords" are the "new players" of drug peddling the authorities are monitoring.

READ: PDEA: New drug lords operate in Bilibid

PDEA intelligence and investigation chief Jigger Montallana told the House subcommittee on correctional reforms the "new names" that cropped up in the string of drug raids at the national penitentiary appear to be selling party drugs such as liquid Ecstasy.

Rep. Henry Oaminal (Misamis Occidental) said that Montallana's testimony is parallel with the statement of PDEA chief Aaron Aquino's pronouncement that drug trading in the Bilibid has "not decreased" but has in fact "flourished."

Despite this new development, the government continues to hail its "successes" in its bloody drug war in the past 18 months.