The sight of Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa crying in public is nothing new. One of those occasions happened nearly eight years ago, at a Senate hearing, when he was still chief of the Philippine National Police. This was during the first year of the Duterte administration, with Dela Rosa implementing the much-feared war on drugs.
“Pinapasa-Diyos ko na lang itong sa PNP. Gustong-gusto kong mareform ang PNP. Ako’y hirap na hirap na (I’m just leaving the situation at the PNP to God. I really want to reform the PNP. I’m really having a difficult time),” the then-Police chief said, revealing what others would deem a softer side as opposed to the tough-cop stance consistent with his boss’.
“There are times that I don’t know who to trust, who is in or out of the drug business,” Dela Rosa added.
Many things have happened since. Thanks to Duterte’s backing, Dela Rosa is now himself a senator. The former president has gone back to Davao and now wants to become mayor again. Other Dutertes are gunning for various other posts, even as his daughter, the vice president, has severed ties with the current administration.
Now, too, alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa — the man who handed a tissue box to Dela Rosa at the latter’s emotional moment during that 2016 hearing – says it was Dela Rosa who coerced him into saying that former Justice Secretary and Senator Leila de Lima was a protector of drug activities. De Lima spent seven years in prison for these accusations.
In response, Dela Rosa said he would punch Espinosa in the face for spreading lies about him.
The senator, who now heads the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, now proposes a parallel probe where he could look into the war on drugs, since the former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, former Col. Royina Garma, detailed an elaborate financial incentive scheme that supposedly drove the Duterte administration’s drug war. Another senator, former Duterte aide Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, has been named as a major player in the scheme.
An indignant Dela Rosa plans to call other Duterte-era officials and perhaps Duterte himself so that they could shed light on the matter. He invoked the principle of checks and balance in calling for the Senate probe.
But before Dela Rosa’s idea is taken seriously instead of being seen as a desperate attempt to save face, there must be an established need for new laws, or amendments to existing laws, on the issue at hand. Many people need reminding that this is the very purpose of hearings in aid of legislation. They are not supposed to exist for entertainment, political theater, or a battle for the people’s hearts and minds.
Second, Bato must realize that for “checks and balance” to be truly at work, he has to recognize the screaming conflict of interest if he leads a probe that would look into his activities at his previous job. He must do the obvious course of action, step away, and let his colleagues investigate the drug war, himself included. Only then will the probe be credible.
Dela Rosa, however, may not like that idea. It would mean he could only cry in private.
