Dela Rosa wants PNP to 'terrorize' criminals amid kidnapping cases

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Thursday said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should terrorize criminals following reports of kidnapping incidents in the country recently.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, Dela Rosa, Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee chairman, said if criminals do not fear the police they will be more daring in committing crimes.

“Ibig sabihin parang feeling nila, pakiramdam nila ngayon parang may open time sila na gumawa ng kalokohan parang wala silang takot (It means that criminals now feel like they have an open time to commit crimes without fear). The police should terrorize the criminals and not the other way around,” he said.

Asked if the problem was due to the current leadership or the kind of program in the PNP, Dela Rosa said he does not want to compare and offend anybody.

He added the police do not need to make pronouncements on going after criminals but they only have to show it through their performance in operations.

The former PNP chief raised the possibility of trust issues with the police as one of the reasons for the fewer reports on kidnapping incidents as opposed to the higher number recorded by business groups.

“Kung totoo ganun kalaki at ganun din kababa ang record ng PNP, that boils down naman talaga rin doon sa kredibilidad ng law enforcement agency,” he said.

(If it is true that the incidents are high but the cases reported to the PNP are low, that boils down to the credibility of the law enforcement agency.)

“Ibig sabihin, hindi nagre-report 'yung mga biktima. Isang pwede makonsidera is kulang sa tiwala o puwede sabihin atin wala silang pakialam, basta ayaw nila mag-complain dahil nga for personal circumstances,” he added.

(It means the victims refuse to report to authorities. One of the considerations is their lack of trust to the police or let’s say they do not really care and do not want to file a complaint due to personal circumstances.)

On Wednesday, the PNP said there were only four reported cases of kidnapping this year after the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said there have been 56 incidents in the past 10 days.—AOL, GMA News