Marcos should have ''concrete policies'' on war on drugs": Dela Rosa
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should have '' clear-cut policies'' on how to approach the war on drugs, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said Sunday.
Dela Rosa, the chief implementer of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, told dzBB that the Marcos administration should have clear-cut policies on how to fight the drug problem in the Philippines.
Duterte implemented the war on drugs on July 1, 2016.
“We are not getting ahead of the President, but we really need to address this (drug) problem head-on. You can’t avoid this or neglect this. Otherwise, everyone will suffer when it comes to this problem. That’s why we need very clear-cut policies pertaining to this,” he said.
On whether the Marcos administration should continue the drug war, he said he will see how the government will do this.
“They are at the helm now, the ones in Malacañang. Let’s give them a chance to implement their approach to this problem. We cannot dictate what they should do. We cannot tell them to copy the template of President Duterte,” Dela Rosa said over dzBB.
“They have their own strategies, their own plans. But then again, they should implement those plans, so that the people on the ground could feel (that the President has their back),” he added.
The Marcos administration should monitor “ninja cops” and narco politicians who have become emboldened since the end of Duterte’s term, Dela Rosa said.
Ninja cops are police involved in the trade of illegal drugs.
As the head of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, Dela Rosa vowed to make the war on drugs his advocacy.
“Maybe, this is as much as I can do. As a senator, as the chairman of the Public Order and the Dangerous Drugs, I will use my power and position in the Senate so that this can be addressed. This is my personal advocacy, I will not turn my back on this,” he said.
According to Dela Rosa, Senate Bill 226 which he introduced and seeks to impose the death penalty on high-profile drug traffickers will complement Republic Act 11929, which establishes a separate prison for “bigtime” criminals.
“Those measures will complement each other. It’s better to have many plaintive measures. Or let’s say coercive measures. If they have more things to be afraid of, the better. They will not do any crime,” he said.
Dela Rosa was the first PNP chief under the Duterte administration. In 2019, he was elected to the Senate.
The war on drugs is the anti-drug campaign of Duterte who began his reign on June 30, 2016. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
