Bato on drug war deaths: ‘Hindi ko tatakbuhan ‘yan’

Outgoing Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Wednesday reiterated that he is ready to be held accountable for any cases that he will face in relation to the government’s war on drugs.

“As I have said, we are trained in the Philippine Military Academy to take responsibility of your actions, hindi ko tatakbuhan ‘yan, gusto kong ipapaalam sa kanila na meron akong baya_ na harapin yang problema na ‘yan. Kung ‘yan man ay problema, hindi ko tatakbuhan ‘yan, haharapin ko ‘yan,” Dela Rosa said in an interview on GMA News TV’s “News To Go.”

Dela Rosa’s remarks came as the Human Rights Watch said that Dela Rosa “will leave behind a police force with a sordid human rights record unmatched since the Marcos dictatorship.”

HRW researcher Carlos Conde said that the anti-illegal campaign that Duterte administration waged has “targeted mainly urban slum dwellers and resulted in the deaths of more than 12,000 men, women, and children by police and police-backed vigilantes.”

“He rejected concerns about the soaring death toll of the police operations, saying the deaths were proof of an ‘uncompromising’ police approach to drug crimes,” Conde said in a statement.

In a separate statement, PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao maintained that there is a “lawful legitimacy of all police operations” and it was carried out with “due diligence, proper authority and keen observance of prescribed Police Operational Procedures or rules of engagement.”

“The unfounded generalizations of irregularity in anti-illegal drugs operations are based only on unverified numbers sensationalized in mass media,” Bulalacao said.

“If at all there is a valid reason to cry foul over any police operation that resulted in death of the violators, then by all means the PNP and the concerned personnel will squarely face the charges in the proper forum,” he added.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court has begun its preliminary examination on the communication made by lawyer Jude Sabio in April last year.

Sabio urged the ICC prosecutor to investigate Duterte and senior administration officials and bring charges against humanity against them for “the terrifying and gruesome situation of continuing mass murder in the Philippines.”

Conde, meanwhile, said that “there is growing momentum inside the United Nations for a separate UN inquiry.”

“These developments suggest that sooner or later, Dela Rosa may be held to account for the bloody campaign he so zealously endorsed,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News