Bato warns vs. criminals in uniform; urges purge of law enforcement units

FORMER Philippine National Police (PNP) chief-now Senator Ronaldo Dela Rosa on Tuesday warned law enforcers to be wary of colleagues involved in criminal activities, saying antidrug units in particular were prone to temptations.

Meanwhile, the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) are working together to purge their ranks of rogue cops and agents who are involved in illegal activities.

“I am encouraging not only the PNP, lahat ng law enforcement agency pati na ang PDEA at NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) to embark on a thorough internal cleansing process,” Dela Rosa said.

The former PNP chief delivered a privilege speech on Monday about the arrest of a PDEA supervisor and two agents in a buy-bust operation in Taguig City on Dec. 6.

The PDEA personnel yielded 1.35 kilos of shabu worth P9.18 million, buybust money, four firearms and a digital weighing scale.

Dela Rosa also talked about the involvement of Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., an active member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group Special Operation Unit, in a drug den that stored some 990 kilograms of shabu worth P6.7 billion.

He likewise cited the two cops who were killed in an ambush by members of a syndicate after an anti-illegal drug operation in Pampanga.

Dela Rosa said law enforcers should stay active and vigilant as traitors within their ranks will pounce on opportunities to conduct their illegal activities.

“They are not stopping so should we. We should continue what we have started and use what we have learned from our experiences from the last administration,” he said, referring to the Duterte administration’s relentless fight against illegal drugs.

The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Dela Rosa will invite law enforcers during an inquiry next year on the status of their internal cleansing and the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.