Resign Bato?

Once again, police officers are tagged in a crime and this time, it’s for supposedly kidnapping and killing a Korean businessman. General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa himself said that the crime allegedly happened inside Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP). In this incident, we can partly blame Gen. Dela Rosa because as the head of PNP, the first thing he should’ve done was to make sure that the police force is clean. But, we should also understand that there are some things easier said than done. Even before the current administration, there were police officers involved in several crimes and here are just some of the articles about them:

Attempted murder. In January 2011, 11 police officers of Quezon City were tagged by an Indian national for supposedly trying to kidnap him in Pasay City. It is also said that they shot a Pasay City police official (http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/01/03/11/11-qc-cops-face-kidnap-attempted-murder-raps). Kidnapping. Last September of 2014, a screenshot of a video of a “hulidap” incident went viral and because of it, this scheme of the police involved was revealed. In their scheme, they used their badge to kidnap people and asked them for money (http://www.manilatimes.net/will-protect-filipinos-crime-syndicates-inside-pnp/126960/). In the same Manila Times article, the existence of criminal syndicates in the Philippine National Police was pointed out.

So, in this case, are we really expecting Gen. Bato – who is just going into his seventh month as PNP Chief – to do what the previous administration failed to do in their six years?

What really bothered me is the way the pro-Yellow groups, yellow politicians and some mainstream media are using the issue to discredit the Duterte Administration. It’s as if this problem didn’t exist a decade ago. Why is it that issues in the PNP before were treated as normal and usual news, and yet this time, they made the issue seem so scandalous that they want the PNP Chief to resign immediately instead of encouraging him to clean up the police force so that things like this won’t happen again in the time of the next administration.

If the real motive is to clean the PNP of scalawags, then the call for the resignation of the PNP Chief is not the solution but the speedy prosecution of people involved. Furthermore, we can only do that if we allow the system to work.
I hope that this incident would not force us to forget that Gen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is a big part of the success of the war on drugs, which makes him the best person for the job right now. He was appointed and is trusted by the President to ensure synchronized action of the government against criminality and drugs.

In his appearance in several Senate hearings, we have seen his passion for his work; we have felt his love for the country and the PNP, together with his desire to change it for the better; and we have shared his anger towards criminals and police who are involved in illegal activities. So, unless someone else is presented who is more trustworthy and better suited for the job, my choice to head the PNP would still be Gen. Bato.

Also, isn’t it too much to ask him to resign right away because of a crime he’s not even personally responsible for? We respect the opinion of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for asking the PNP Chief to resign and while it’s possible that what happened showed how his people do not respect him, we must not disregard that the people responsible for kidnapping and killing the Korean businessman are criminals who just happened to be a part of the Philippine National Police. And for me, these people do not really respect anyone except maybe those who are more powerful than them in their group. And if there really are criminal syndicates inside the PNP, who can we trust aside from the man trusted by the President himself?
I think that it is also necessary for us to ask why must we let go of PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa over a deed committed by the criminal police in their midst? Shouldn’t we just encourage him to learn from this incident and prevent cases like it from happening again, and encourage him to check his ranks once again and cleanse the organization from cops involved in illegal activities?

Ask yourselves: who better to send against these criminals hiding in the police force than the man who has, time and again, shown no tolerance for criminals and scalawag cops? If Gen. Bato would fail to act on cases like this and we see it happening repeatedly then I believe that should be the time that we call for his resignation.

Yes, he may have flaws, but with him we are sure that he will go against those who are corrupt in the PNP. We are sure that there will be punishment for police officers who are not true to their job. I believe that with him as the PNP Chief, the time will come where our trust in the police will be restored completely.
As Sen. Miguel Zubiri said to Gen. Bato: “Sa tingin ko, ikaw na lang ang pinagkakatiwalaan ko. Ikaw na lang talaga ang pag-asa namin, ng taong bayan, because we believe in you.”