Bato apologizes for drug war deaths
NAGA CITY, Camarines Sur – Senatorial bet and retired Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa asked forgiveness from Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona for the drug personalities and policemen who were killed during his watch in the government’s war on drugs.
Dela Rosa, who visited the bishop to pay his respects after a short speaking engagement at the Naga College Foundation on Wednesday, said that he asked for the bishop's forgiveness amid the government's war on drugs.
"Humingi ako ng tawad kay bishop sa mga namatay dahil sa war on drugs nung ako ay PNP chief pa. Hindi lang mga drug personalities kundi ihihingi ko na rin ng tawad yung mga namatay na pulis dahil sa kampanya (I asked forgiveness from the bishop for all those who died in the war on drugs when I was still PNP chief. Not only for the drug personalities, but also for the policemen who died during the campaign)," he said.
During Dela Rosa's watch, at least 4,800 drug personalities were killed.
Dela Rosa said that although it he believed that all the operations were legal, he still asked forgiveness from Tirona.
He also bared that Tirona handed him a memento during their meeting that, he said, would keep him safe wherever he went.
In his Naga engagement, Dela Rosa said reinstating the death penalty for convicted drug traffickers would be among his top three priority agenda if he becomes a senator.
"Pinaka-una kong ia-author na bill ay yung restoration ng death penalty para sa mga drug traffickers. Hindi drug pushers, hindi kasama dito. Hindi kasama dito yung mga drug users. Traffickers, heto yung mga big-time na nagpapabaha ng 'shabu' dito sa ating bansa. Dito gusto ko talaga na magkaroon ng deterence ang kanilang trafficking business," he said. (The first bill I will propose will be the restoration of the death penalty for drug traffickers. Drug pushers won’t be included, nor the drug users. Only the traffickers, they are the big-timers who flood the country with shabu. That is what I want to serve as a deterent to the trafficking business)
Dela Rosa also said that, in his dialogues with convicted drug lords when he was Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director general, he learned that they chose to deal in drugs in the Philippines because, unlike Singapore and Malaysia, there was no death penalty.
He pointed out that while he was a devoted Catholic, there will come a time when he would be made to choose between a drug lord or the lives of the thousands of young Filipinos who could be hooked on illegal drugs.