Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Sunday, October 9 said he was relieved that the Philippine National Police (PNP) was able to neutralize the suspects who attempted to hostage former senator Leila de Lima.
Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, admitted he got worried that the situation could get out of hand and the government might be blamed over the hostage-taking incident if they had failed to save the former lawmaker.
“Baka i-exploit talaga ng mga kalaban ‘yan, kapag ganun ang nangyari (The critics will exploit it if that happens),” Dela Rosa said in an interview on Radio DZBB.
“Baka sabihin ginawa ng gobyerno iyan...mga ganung speculation na magti-trigger ng wild imagination ng ating mga kababayan (They might say the hostage-taking was committed by the government...that kind of speculations that may triger the wild imagination of our fellowmen),” the senator said.
Nevertheless, Dela Rosa said he will inquire into the incident and ask the PNP about what happened on October 9, Sunday morning at the PNP’s Custodial Center.
“Apparently, secured na secured nga siya kasi hindi nakalayas. Siguro naghanap sila ng paraan para hindi sila agad mahuli kaya hinostage si former Sen. De Lima, kaya nangyari ganun (Apparently, the place was very secured that’s why the suspects failed to escape. Maybe they looked for ways so they cannot be caught, so they hostaged former senator De Lima that’s why it happened),” he said.
“Pero sa awa ng Diyos safe naman si Sen. De Lima ok naman daw hindi naman nasaktan. Nagpapasalamat tayo na ganun lang ang nangyari (But thank God, that Sen. De Lima is safe and was unharmed. We thank them that that was the only thing that happened),” added the senator.
De Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, has been facing drug charges since 2017 and is still detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Dela Rosa, a staunch ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said he can only hope that the PNP would do its job to ensure such incident would not happen again within the Custodial Center.