(Eagle News) — “Ingrates.”
This was how Philippine National Police Chief Director Ronald dela Rosa described the critics of the ongoing drug war on Tuesday.
“You can criticize to high heavens but I can tell you, sabihin ko ngayon, ingrato kayo,” Dela Rosa said in an ambush interview on the sidelines of a Light Rail Transit Authority event.
The police chief said it was because of the peace and order brought by the war on drugs that the children of these critics were able to walk on streets without fear because “crime is rare.”
Poor not sole targets
As for criticisms only the poor are killed in the war, Dela Rosa said that there are “more poor people” selling drugs than rich people.
This does not mean however, that the poor drug pushers were the sole targets of authorities, Dela Rosa said, dispelling the perception of some as reflected on results of a recent Social Weather Station Survey.
The survey found that six out of 10 Filipinos believe that only drug suspects from poor communities were being targeted for the killings.
“Bakit? Mahirap ba si (Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo) Parojinog? Mahirap ba si Albuera, Leyte (Mayor), si (Rolando) Espinosa? Hindi naman,” he said.
“..Kasi you have to understand the drug pyramid. Yung drug pyramid, yung mayayaman, drug lord, iisang drug lord sa taas, pababa yan, down the line, yung pinakamababa yung street pushers. Puro mahirap yun,” he added.