'Bring it on,' Dela Rosa says on HRW call for drug war probe
MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said Friday he is ready to face any external probe into his previous role as chief enforcer of the government's 'drug war'.
This was in response to New York-based Human Rights Watch raising concerns about his likely election to the Senate.
"Bring it on. Kahit anong gusto nila di ko sila tatakbuhan. Andito lang ako," Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief, said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
(Bring it on. Do whatever they want, I won't run away. I'll be waiting.)
“We are ready to face them anytime, anywhere kung anong gusto nila (whatever they want)," he added.
A near-final tally of votes as of 3:03 p.m. Friday showed 18,720,760 voters supported Dela Rosa’s Senate bid, placing him at the fifth spot in the winners’ circle.
Dela Rosa, who served as Davao City police chief before becoming the country’s top cop, helped President Rodrigo Duterte — long-time mayor of that city — implement a plan to bring Davao's campaign against drugs on a national level.
Human rights groups at home and abroad say most of the fatalities in the government’s anti-narcotics drive are extrajudicial killings committed by cops, something the government has vehemently denied. It has acknowledged that more than 5,000 "drug personalities" have been killed in law enforcement operations because they violently resisted arrest.
In a statement, Carlos Conde of HRW's Asia division said the International Criminal Court should investigate Dela Rosa.
“Now that Dela Rosa is a policymaker, there is a renewed urgency in bringing all those responsible for ‘drug war’ crimes to justice,” Conde said.
“Dela Rosa was as vociferous in carrying out and defending the ‘drug war’ brutality as Duterte was in justifying it,” he added.
Dela Rosa said his areas of focus would be law enforcement and peace and order if elected senator.
He added he would push for the re-imposition of the death penalty for drug-related crimes, rape and murder. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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