Bato says Duterte punched Palace wall over dismissed drug raps

President Rodrigo Duterte punched a wall in Malacañang after he learned that the drug charges against businessman Peter Lim, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and several others were dismissed, PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said on Friday.

Dela Rosa told the story amid questions regarding the resolve of the Duterte administration to prosecute high-profile drug personalities.

“I tell you nung nagalit si Presidente, tingnan niyo yung kamay ni Presidente, namaga. Nung nagalit siya nung naalaman niya ‘yan sinuntok niya yung wall, dingding ng Malacañang," Dela Rosa said.

"Tingnan niyo kamao ni Presidente namaga sa galit niya. Moro moro? ganon pa moro-moro?" he added

The PNP chief slammed critics for questioning the government’s war on drugs after Lim and Espinosa were exonerated.

“Kaya para diyan sa mga nagsasabi na moro-moro itong aming war on drugs, ako po'y nagagalit sa inyo ha, moro-moro your face,” Dela Rosa said.

”Kawawa naman yung, on my part sa PNP, 108 pulis namin namatay moro-moro pa? Ilang tao namatay dito, we're dealing with lives, 4,000 plus ang namatay, moro-moro pa rin? Ang sama naman ng moro-moro na ‘yan, namamatayan tayo ng ganung karaming tao, moro-moro pa rin?" he added.

The President supposedly got wind of the junked drug charges only through media reports, the country’s top cop said.

Dela Rosa, however, admitted that Criminal and Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) chief Director Roel Obusan had already informed him about the resolution “weeks” before the media reported it.

“Bago lang ito nalaman ni presidente, as far as I'm concerned...Kasi ang daming iniisip ni Presidente eh, hindi lang naman itong kaso na ‘to...nalaman niya ito nung lumabas na sa media na pumutok na,” Dela Rosa said.

“Parang nabanggit ito ni...General Obusan sa akin weeks before, pero hindi ko masyadong binibigyan ng weight na sabihin,” he added.

The resolution of state prosecutors dismissing the drug trading charges against Lim, Espinosa and several personalities due to weak evidence was only reported on Monday, March 12 even as the resolution was signed on December 20, last year.

In a 41-page resolution approved by Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan, said the "uncorroborated statements" of the complainant's witness, Marcelo Adorco, could not be admissible evidence against the respondents.

The resolution described Adorco as an "evidently self-serving witness."

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has already formed a three-man panel of prosecutors tasked to handle the motion for reconsideration filed by the Criminal and Investigation Group.

In Department Order 152, Aguirre had also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the state prosecutors who composed the panel that dismissed the charges. —NB, GMA News