Bato on drug peddlers inside Bilibid: ‘Kung makipagbarilan sila sa akin, eh di madugo’

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday warned that the crackdown against drug peddlers inside the New Bilibid Prison will be bloody if convicts choose to fight it out.

"Well see you there, pagdating ko diyan kung matapos itong extension ko, I will account everyone kung nasaan na kayo at anong ginagawa ninyo and I will see to it na hindi niyo na maipagpatuloy yung drug trafficking diyan sa loob ng BuCor (Bureau of Corrections)," Dela Rosa said in an ambush interview after his visit to wounded cops at PNP General Hospital in Camp Crame.

"Ano pang rason kung bakit ilalagay ako ni Presidente diyan kundi para tapusin yung iyong maliligayang araw sa pagta-traffic ng drugs," he added.

Asked on whether this will be a bloody campaign, Dela Rosa said: "Eh kung makipagbarilan sila sa akin, eh di madugo pero [kung] hindi sila lalaban  sa 'kin, then peaceful. Basta ang importante, ihinto na talaga nila yang ginagawa nilang drug trafficking na ginagawa nila sa loob."

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he will appoint Dela Rosa as director general of the BuCor after his retirement.

Dela Rosa will reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 on January 21, 2018, however, Duterte had extended his term of duty by two to three more months.

"I said I will extend his tour of duty to something like two to three months. Once the projects are in place for operational, for functional, then he goes to the BuCor," Duterte told reporters in Fort Bonifacio on Wednesday.

The PNP chief, meanwhile, said that his term's extension has something to do with drugs, terrorism, criminality in the light of the Congress' approval of extending the martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2018.

"Hindi ko masabi na dissatisfaction from the way I see it siguro...he has set higher goals to achieve na sa tingin niya hindi pa namin nakamit so gusto niya patuloy ka muna ka," Dela Rosa said. — RSJ, GMA News