‘Bato’ vows last hurrah vs rogue cops

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, vowed to pin down erring police officers barely three months before his mandatory retirement.

“It’s either they will go on the day of my retirement, or it would be earlier. But I am inclined to kick these erring policemen before my retirement,” said dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa is set to retire in January next year.

Dela Rosa is currently zeroing in on six Olongapo City police officers who were accused of raping a female drug suspect under their custody five months ago.

Quoting reports from the Olongapo City police, Dela Rosa said only one police officer was accused of rape while the five others tolerated it.

The female inmate filed the case against the six officers right after her transfer to the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

The female inmate, arrested for a drug offense, said she was sexually assaulted and narrated how the rape occurred in the affidavit she filed before the local prosecutor’s office.

“We have already acted on that accordingly and they will be held responsible for it,” said Dela Rosa.

“Although it happened five months ago, that is still a crime so we will focus on this so that these people would be given a lesson,” he added.

The national police chief likewise instructed the PNP-Drug Enforcement Group to coordinate with the PNP’s anti-scalawag unit, the Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF), to intensify the campaign against police officers involved in illegal activities, particularly illegal drugs.

Since its creation early this year, the CITF has already arrested more than 60 police officers, mostly involved in extortion of arrested drug suspects.