‘Good luck!’

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa has this to say to the Philippine National Police (PNP) after it changed the government’s approach to the so-called “war on drugs.”

“I wish them good luck. I hope and pray that they will succeed,” said Dela Rosa, former chief of the PNP, when asked about the PNP’s new anti-illegal drug strategy.

According to PNP Chief  Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, the PNP will now target the supply chain and sources of illegal drugs instead of street-level pushers and users.

But Dela Rosa recalled that when he headed the Duterte administration’s brutal war on drugs, they did not discriminate when it comes to arresting drug suspects.

“We didn’t discriminate as to who we are going to arrest in our war on drugs. We were not selective in the implementation of the Dangerous Drugs Act,” the senator said.

“All violators of the law drug lords, drug pushers, drug traffickers, drug users were targeted in our anti drug operations,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Robinhood “Robin” Padilla withheld his opinion on the issue as he has yet to see the results of the PNP’s revised anti-drug campaign.

“Ang mahalaga sa taumbayan ay wag maagaw muli ng mga siga, tamad, lasenggo at mga kriminal ang mga kalsada (What is important to the people is that the roads should not be taken over again by bonfires, lazy people, drunkards and criminals),” Padilla said.

“Simple lang ang hinihingi ng taongbayan (What the people are asking is just simple): law and order,” Padilla stressed.