(Eagle News) – Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa retired from the police force on Thursday, April 19, after 36 years of “unsullied years of dedication” saying that he had tried his best to fulfill the mandate given to him to fight crime and illegal drugs.
Dela Rosa, who was President Rodrigo Duterte’s police chief when he was still the mayor of Davao City, tearfully surrendered his badge as he became “citizen Bato” during the formal turn-over ceremonies in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Former National Capital Region Police Office chief General Oscar Albayalde will assume the PNP leadership, as Dela Rosa is given the assignment as chief of the Bureau of Corrections.
“Today I conclude 36 years of uniformed service to God, country and people, one year and nine months of which were spent at the helm of this police institution, the Philippine National Police,” Dela Rosa said.
“It was so far, the toughest journey I have taken in my life, but after travelling along the extremely rough roads of this journey of service, I now say it was one worth taking,” he said.
Dela Rosa, who did a final march along with his fellow classmates of Sinagtala class of 1986 of the Philippine Military Academy, said he felt that he had done his best as PNP chief, and fought the drug war as best as he could in accordance to the task given to him by President Duterte.
But he also expressed sadness that there had been “misguided” elements in the PNP who had used their position to abuse their powers and do harm, including the so-called ninja cops who recycled seized illegal drugs, and the police officers involved in the Jee Ick-Joo killing in 2017.
It was after these controversies that President Duterte decided to withdraw PNP from the drug war, and transferred this authority to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Dela Rosa said that that this was the saddest part of his time as the PNP chief.
In December 2017, however, the President ordered PNP to again help in the anti-illegal drug operations, even as PDEA was maintained as the drug war’s lead agency.
The retiring PNP chief said that the President’s trust was something that he valued, as he made sure that the revitalized Oplan Tokhang had more stringent guidelines to prevent police abuse.
“I have proven to myself many times over, that when one loves his country deeply, the rough roads do not matter, only the good that I can do for my country does,” he said.
Dela Rosa thanked President Duterte for the opportunity given to him to serve as PNP chief, and the first one at that to have come from Mindanao.
“Thank you sir for making me the first ever and hopefully not the only PNP chief from Mindanao,” he said in his valedictory address.
“It was not something that I never dreamed I could reach in my career, having spent most of my service as a simple police officer in Davao region and in other police units,” he said.
“But it was a challenge that I readily accepted with deep humility because of the enormity of the responsibility that came with the position, and the trust and confidence in me of no less than the President and commander in chief.”
He said the “President’s marching orders were firm and direct” which were “to help him eradicate crime, illegal drugs and corruption in the country.”
As part of his major accomplishments, he said that this was in bringing back the public confidence in the police institution that he loved.
He also cited the accomplishments by the PNP in the government’s war on drugs.
From July 1, 2016, when Dela Rosa took over as PNP chief, to March 31, 2018, he said that there were 130,271 drug offenders who were arrested, while 4,128 suspects were killed in 83,057 police operations under the PNP’s Oplan Double Barrel.
There were also 8,835,365 or roughly 8.4 million house visitations under the PNP’s Oplan Tokhang that resulted in the surrender of 1.26 million drug personalities.
On the PNP’s side, 131 police operatives were killed in the course of the anti-drug operations, while 346 policemen were injured.
Dela Rosa said that this is “indicative of the intensity of the war on drugs and belied the accusation that our drug operations were staged or just moro-moro lang.”
He said that the PNP had also shut down many shabu laboratories in different parts of the country, and sent big-time foreign and local drug traffickers to jail.
The PNP also seized at least P22.9 billion worth of illegal drugs during his watch at the PNP.
