As the Senate's investigation on the country's campaign against illegal drugs looms, Senator Ronald "Bato" Rosa said on Thursday, Oct. 24, that he regrets nothing as far as handling the previous administration's drug war is concerned.
In a phone interview on Thursday, Dela Rosa, who was the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) during former President Rodrigo Duterte time, said that if he'll be given the chance to deal with it again, he'll do it using the "same approach".
"Because alam mo na (as you know), you can't fight a war, especially against the drug personalities, by being disente (decent), by being pa-cute-cute (subtle), no way you can win the battle, you can win the war. You have to be forceful enough to send your message down the spine of these criminals," he said.
Duterte's controversial drug war has been criticized for the killing of alleged drug personalities. He's been invited to the Senate probe scheduled on Monday, Oct. 28 and has expressed his willingness to attend the hearing.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III will be presiding over the motu propio investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee subcommittee in lieu of Senator Pia Cayetano, who is currently attending a summit on energy.
In case Duterte, Dela Rosa, and Senator Christopher "Bong" Go would be present in the investigation, they'd be face-to-face with former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma, Edilberto Leonardo, former Senator Leila De Lima, Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, and the drug war victims.
All three of them have been mentioned in the House quad-committee (quad-comm) hearing involving Duterte's drug war.
Duterte was accused by Garma of spearheading in 2016 a nationwide, cash reward-driven war on illegal drugs that allegedly encouraged the killing of drug suspects.
Go was mentioned in Garma's testimony, while it was Espinosa stated that Dela Rosa pressured him in November 2016 to implicate De Lima in the illegal drug trade.
Aside from them, Dela Rosa also said that he's very excited to ask questions to retired Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido who corroborated with Espinosa's claim.
In reply to Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez' statement that the burden of proof is now with him after Espenido's disclosure, the senator said that he doesn't have any problem with it.
"Well, if that's how he see[s] it, wala akong problema (I have no problem with that). I can defend myself in any forum...With all honesty, hindi ako nagpre-prepare, hindi ako naghanda kung ano itatanong, anong sasabihin ko (I'm not preparing, I did not ready any questions, what I'm going to say. Basta (Because) when you are telling the truth, everything will come out naturally," he said.
No-holds barred questioning
During the hearing, Dela Rosa said that the public can expect straight "no-holds barred" questioning from him regarding the allegations in a bid to find out the truth.
"Kasi mahirap na yung mag-iingat ka na magpapapogi ka, ayaw mong tawagin ka na ano...Matatakot ka sa bashing at the expense of the truth? Hindi mo mapapalabas ang katotohanan dahil takot ka na sasama ang imahe mo sa publiko? (It's hard to being careful, focusing on your image, afraid of being called names...You'll be afraid of bashing at the expense of the truth? You can't expose the truth because you're protecting your public image? That's not me," he said.
He also added that he doesn't care if anyone gets offended by what he's going to say as far as the truth is concerned.
"I don't care kung sino masasaktan sa aking pananalita. Basta ang habol ko lang dito sa katotohanan, lalabas ang katotohanan. I don't care. I don't care kung ano sabihin nila (I don't care who gets hurt by my words. For me, I'm after the truth, the truth will come out. I don't care. I don't care what they will say)...I will be frank and candid to everyone. Kilala niyo ako. (You know me). That's how I'm doing this," he said.
Open to be questioned
Dela Rosa said that while he's a member of the panel, he's also opening up himself to be questioned and interpellated by his colleagues stating that he would not be offended by this.
He also stated that he's "very confident" that the hearing would show the truth after what has been revealed in the quad-comm hearing.