Bato: I'm willing to offer my life to clean up PNP

Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on Thursday said he was willing to "offer" his life to clean up police ranks, hours after suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa told the Senate in a hearing that he had paid millions in payola for protection from Eastern Visayas cops.

"I-offer ko ang aking buhay para linisin 'tong PNP," Dela Rosa told Jessica Soho in a live interview on "State of the Nation."

Dela Rosa was asked about his emotional outburst at the hearing, where he seemed to express despair over the allegations that ranking police officials were on the take.

"Nasabi ko lang yun out of frustration," he said, while adding that he believes that most of the PNP remains clean despite some bad apples.

"Hindi naman lahat ng pulis ay patong, hindi naman lahat ay kurakot... Wala pa sa one percent o two percent ang naiinvolve sa amin sa droga," he added. "'Wag po tayong mawalan ng pag-asa."

Dela Rosa said he was just overwhelmed by Senator Miguel Zubiri's pronouncement at the hearing about him being the country's only hope in cleaning up the police force.

"Para bang naramdaman ko agad ang bigat ng responsibilidad na nakaatang sa akin," he said. "Kasama na doon 'yung poot at galit ko sa mga tao ko na involved diyan sa droga."

Dela Rosa said he remained confident that he will be able to weed out corrupt officials.

"Kakayanin ko ito, with the help of God at saka tulong ng taong bayan," he said. —JST, GMA News