(Eagle News) — Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said he has already talked to the three police generals still in active service who had been named by President Rodrigo Duterte as having links with illegal drug operations.
Dela Rosa said the police generals were “sad” but he told them to “face the music” and answer all the charges against them.
Although the PNP chief declined to disclose details of his “intimate” conversation with police generals Bernardo Diaz, Edgardo Tinio, and Joel Pagdilao, he said that their talk went well.
He said he gave them the assurance that there would be a proper and fair investigation.
– Face the music –
Dela Rosa, who at one time became a bit teary-eyed while answering reporters’ questions about what it felt like to talk to his former superiors, said he first met with Diaz who came to the White House — the PNP chief’s official residence — and then he saw the two other police generals named by the President in his office.
He said he had to tell them to “face the music” even if they were his upper classmen.
He talked to the three police generals in his office.
The meeting was emotional, he said.
“I wanted to cry with them,” Dela Rosa said.
Even if reporters tried to get the details of their conversation and the kind of information that the police and the President had on the five police generals named by the President, the PNP chief kept mum about it, saying he does not want to preempt the investigation to be done by the National Police Commission.
But Dela Rosa said that the President would not name the five top police officials if he was not holding top intelligence information linking them to the illegal drug operations.
He said this is also the proper time for them to face all these accusations.
– President is sending strong message —
Dela Rosa said the Chief Executive is sending a strong message with his action of naming the five police generals, and the message is that no one will be spared if he is committing an illegal action.
“Ang strong message na sinasabi niya: Wala akong sinasanto, kahit sino kayo,” the PNP chief said in a media briefing.
He said, however, that the active police generals, are still qualified to receive any increase in compensation that would be given to members of the police force since they are still in active service.
“They still deserve that,” Dela Rosa said.
-Police generals deny accusations –
Two other top police generals named by the President in his speech during the 69th anniversary of the Philippine Air Force on Tuesday (July 5) were retired Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr, and Vic Loot, who is now mayor of Daanbantayan, Cebu.
The two have also denied the accusations against them in separate media interviews.
The three active police generals — Pagdilao, the former National Capital Region Police Office director; Tinio, former Quezon City Police District Office director; and Diaz, former Western Visayas police chief — had been relieved from their post on Friday, July 1, after the assumption in office of PNP chief Dela Rosa.
They have also denied any involvement in the illegal drugs, saying they would not allow their reputation to be tarnished.
Dela Rosa said the President has a list — composed of several pages — of more officials who have alleged links to the illegal drug operations. (Eagle News Service)