'Dissolve' PNP, gov't if you don't trust drug war numbers, Bato tells critics

Filipinos should just dissolve the government, including the Philippine National Police (PNP), if they don't believe state data on the Duterte administration's anti-illegal drugs campaign, Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa said Wednesday.

"If you do not trust the PNP numbers, you dissolve the PNP. If you don't trust the government, tanggalin ninyo ang gobyerno. Let the human rights [groups], sila ang mag-rule ng ating bansa pag ganun," he said in an interview on ANC.

"Wala na tayong tiwala sa ating government instrumentality. I-dissolve natin lahat pati gobyerno pag hindi tayo maniwala, doon tayo maniwala sa kanila," he added.

Dela Rosa also slammed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet for linking the Philippines' anti-illegal drugs campaign to alleged "widespread and systematic" killings.

He claimed that the human rights groups' death toll estimate of 27,000 was bloated as he pointed out that based on PNP's official count, only over 5,000 drug suspects have been killed.

A former PNP chief who led the first years of Duterte's war on drugs, Dela Rosa said he believes the efforts of the government are not futile even though the illegal drug trade seems unhampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Effective, may nahuli nga eh. Kung walang nahuli, hindi effective," he said.

In June, P8 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized in a series of police operations spanning only nine days.

"Well, hangga't nandiyan ang mga tao na may mga evil desires, 'yung gusto kumita ng easy money, hindi hihinto iyan," Dela Rosa said, insisting that the ultimate solution to the illegal drug problem in the country is restoring death penalty for drug traffickers.

The passage of the anti-terror law would also have an impact on drug lords, according to the senator. —KBK, GMA News