Manila: Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said he is ready to resign despite his “mission to God” and to President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drug trade — as critics were angered by the involvement of police in the death of a kidnapped South Korean businessman in 2016.
“I am ready, I will ask the president [to oust me] if I’m now a burden to him. I need not file a formal resignation letter. I’ll just talk to him,” said Director General Dela Rosa who celebrated his birthday on Saturday.
“I can leave my post today. I hope the lunatics in the PNP to change their ways. That’s my only wish on my birthday,” said Dela Rosa, adding, “Many people think I enjoy being PNP chief, Frankly speaking, I did not dream of this. This post was given to me because God has a mission for me.”
In defence of Dela Rosa, PNP spokesperson senior superintendent Leonardo Carlos said, “The PNP was behind the investigation of the kidnapping and slaying of South Korean businessman Ick Joo Jee who was taken from his house in the guise of anti-illegal drug trade campaign last October 2016.”
“It is not also easy to disregard the success of the anti-illegal drug trade campaign done by Chief Director Dela Rosa for the past six months,” Carlos said.
Giving advise to the beleaguered police chief, House Speaker Pantaloon Alvarez, Duterte’s ally, said, “The president normally stands by his men. Spare the president embarrassment if you love him,”
“The slaying of Ick Joo Jee, a South Korean national, inside Camp Crame [after he was taken from his house last year] means lack of respect for the police chief. It will take away the support of the people to the police as an institution,” said Alvarez, adding, “The killing of a foreigner by Filipino policemen will aggravate the criticism against President Duterte’s campaign against illegal drug trade.”
The House of Representatives will tackle on Monday the proposed investigation of the case in aid of legislation, a congressman said.
The hashtag #BatoResign has gone viral in the social media — netizens claimed seeing Dela Rosa in a concert when the incident happened last year.
Policemen who became state witnesses said a police officer led them to believe that the “arrest” of Jee from his house in a posh subdivision in Pampanga last October 2016 was due to his alleged involvement in illegal drug trade. They said they brought Jee to the police headquarters in Metro Manila’s suburban Quezon City. The police officer who led them ordered them to cover Jee’s head with packing tape, strangled the South Korean businessman, then sent his dead body for cremation in a funeral parlour in Manila. Jee’s housemaid, who was also kidnapped, confirmed the story.
Jee’s wife said she gave 5 million pesos (Dh416,666) to the kidnappers who called up her house and demanded ransom payment. She did not give 3 million pesos in additional ransom when the kidnappers could not show evidence that her husband was still alive.
Local and international rights groups have criticised Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign which has killed 6,000 since July. The PNP claimed responsibility for 2,000 deaths of suspects who resisted arrest, and blamed drug syndicates for the killing of 4,000 other suspects.
