PNP asked to shape up; Dela Rosa told to resign

WHERE is the peace and order that PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa says the people are ungrateful for?

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III raised this question yesterday in the aftermath of the killing of a Puerto Galera councilor and his 15-year-old son by still unidentified gunmen last Tuesday.

Melchor Arago, 52, was in his car parked in front of his house when two motorcycle-riding men approached and shot him. The two also shot his son, Kenneth, who was going out of the house.

“This is yet another murder by the now usual modus operandi of motorcycle-riding gunmen,” Pimentel said.

The Senate chief chided Dela Rosa for calling critics of President Duterte’s war against drugs as “ingrates,” adding the PNP should shape up.

“Criminals are being emboldened by what they see as the incompetence of the PNP in catching them,” he said, stressing that the “large number of unsolved deaths under investigation is unacceptable.”

According to the PNP’s own figures, there were 6,225 drug-related deaths between July 2016 and September 2017. The deaths are broken down into 2,290 drug-related deaths or homicide cases under investigation, 3,850 deaths during police operations, and 85 police or military personnel killed in action.

“One homicide is one unnecessary death too many. Add the large number of unsolved killings, made worse by some of the victims being minors, and you start wondering what the police is there for,” Pimentel said.

Senate President protempore Ralph Recto reminded Dela Rosa that the Senate “may be resolute in probing extra judicial killings committed by some rogue cops, but what should not be forgotten is that it has also been tireless in providing extra funding for all policemen.

“Far from ingrates, the Senate has expressed its support to the PNP by not only approving, year in and year out, a higher budget for the PNP, but adds more to what it requests – such as this year, when it unilaterally and unanimously added P5.63 billion to its budget for new equipment,” Recto said.

As a result of the Senate augmentation, the PNP was given P1.9 billion last August by the DBM for the purchase of vehicles, body vests, guns, boats, radios, and even dogs priced half-a-million pesos each, Recto said.

“So when the Senate calls out the PNP for the excesses committed by its members, then it is only doing its duty to ensure that not only laws are followed by the protectors of the people, but that they are spending the taxpayer’s money properly,” he added.

BATO ASKED TO RESIGN

A group of human rights lawyers, including former Vice President Jejomar Binay, yesterday urged Dela Rosa to resign after he described the critics of the administration’s drug war as “ingrates.”

The group, Artikulo 3, said Dela Rosa should step down since he cannot stand public criticisms of his “failed, flawed and floundering” war on drugs.

Dela Rosa had earlier said those who are critical of the administration’s war on drugs were “ingrates” since they benefit from the peace and order situation as a result of police efforts. He also denied the drug war targets only the poor.

The Social Weather Stations said only 60 percent of the population or 3 out of 5 Filipinos believe that the war on drugs targets only the poor and 48 percent doubt police claims that those killed resisted arrest.

“The body count continues to pile up in a drug war that President Duterte himself admitted he cannot win,” Artikulo 3 said