MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said on Saturday that even after the appointment of a new Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, the internal cleansing of the ranks of the PNP must remain a main priority.
This is to reduce the number of police officers who engage in illegal behavior, dela Rosa said.
READ: Maj. Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil is new PNP chief
“Again, yung internal cleansing program ay dapat ipagpatuloy niya para mabawas-bawasan mga pulis natin na gumagawa ng kalokohan,” dela Rosa said in a radio interview in Radio DWIZ.
(The internal cleansing program should be continued to reduce the number of police who do the wrong thing.)
“Yes, dapat tuloy-tuloy ‘yan para sana to the minimum level ‘yong sana ma-achieve natin na number of abuses and mga kaso na ginawa ng ating mga kapulisan,” he added.
(Yes, it should be continuous so that hopefully the number of abuses and the cases that involve the police force is kept to a minimum level.)
On April 1, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. appointed Major General Rommel Francisco Marbil as the new PNP chief.
Dela Rosa said that he was fine with the decision of Marbil to veer away from the term “war on drugs” as long as the police force did its duty to eliminate illegal drugs.
READ: New PNP chief Marbil would rather not call it a ‘drug war’
“Basta importante lang, bilang mandato ng PNP, ‘yung pagsugpo ng iligal na droga ay dapat gampanan nila yan. […] Dapat gampanan nila ang mandato na ‘yan,” he added.
(What’s important is that, as the PNP’s mandate, they should commit to the elimination of illegal drugs. They should fulfill that mandate.)
Dela Rosa served as the previous PNP chief from 2016 to 2018.