Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Monday, September 23, clapped back at Antipolo City Representative Romeo Acop, saying he was no coward when he fought against terrorists and insurgents at the height of his career as chief of the national police force.
“You and me were both raised by the same Academy. You and me both served the same branch of service,” Dela Rosa said in a statement.
“All I can say sir is: I am alright sir! I did not hide from the skirt of my mother when I fought the terrorists and the insurgents with bullets flying all over, then why should I hide from somebody’s skirt now knowing that your words can not kill me?” the senator stressed.
The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief was reacting to Acop’s advise for Dela Rosa to address the allegations hurled against him in connection with the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, instead of hiding behind the skirt of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Sen. Dela Rosa should be man enough to face the facts and take responsibility, instead of hiding behind VP Sara’s skirt,” Acop had said on Sunday.
It was Acop’s response to Dela Rosa’s remark last week against former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who claimed the former top cop threatened his life back in 2017. Mabilog claimed he left the country for Japan and was supposed to go back to the Philippines but was advised by a police official to do the opposite.
Dela Rosa said Mabilog’s testimony is purely a demolition job to destroy his and the vice president’s credibility especially in the 2028 elections.
But Acop defended the quad-comm’s hearing saying there is no demolition job “but only legitimate questions that need clear answers.”
The senator had earlier called Acop his “idol” when he clarified that he was not among those “unprincipled and opportunistic” lawmakers who initially supported but later on attacked the former Duterte administration’s war on drugs.