Dela Rosa denies POGO-funded reward system for drug war killings

Metro Manila, Philippines – Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa vehemently denied allegations from a former trusted police officer that he used money from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) to reward cops for killing drug suspects.

“I swear to God, I never gave any monetary consideration, any monetary reward for any accomplishment na magagawa ng PNP (Philippine National Police) lalong lalo na yung sinasabi nila na kung sinong mapatay doon sa nasa narco list ng Malacañang ay binibigyan natin ng premyo,” Dela Rosa said in a phone interview on Friday.

[Translation: I swear to God, I never gave any monetary consideration or reward for any accomplishment by the PNP (Philippine National Police), especially not for the claim that we offered rewards for killing those on the narco list from Malacañang.]

Dela Rosa, the first PNP chief to implement the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs, refuted claims made by PLtCol Jovie Espenido during a hearing of the House of Representatives quad committee on Wednesday.

Espenido, former police chief of Albuera, Leyte, said Dela Rosa instructed cops to use “all means necessary” to eliminate drug suspects, implementing a “quota and reward system” funded by small-town lottery, “jueteng” operations, intelligence funds, and POGOs.

Dela Rosa accused Espenido of lying in his affidavit.

“Halata na yung affidavit Espenido ay talagang concocted… scripted, designed na talagang i-connect-connect yung problema sa POGO, problema sa war on drugs, problema sa extrajudicial killings kuno,” Dela Rosa said.

“2016 pag-assign ko sa kanya roon never pa man heard ang pangalan na POGO, hindi pa man ‘yan sikat noon, ako mismo ignorante kung ano ‘yang pogo, at that time, so bakit ngayon iko-connect niya yan doon?” he added.

[Translation: Clearly, Espenido's affidavit was concocted—scripted and designed to link the issues with POGO, the war on drugs, and alleged extrajudicial killings. When I assigned him there in 2016, POGO was not even known; I was personally ignorant about it at that time. So why is he trying to connect it now?]

Dela Rosa said someone convinced Espenido to turn against him, and he suspected the House probe is a way to implicate him and former President Rodrigo Duterte in their case at the International Criminal Court.

Dela Rosa again tagged House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who has remained silent on allegations that he is behind efforts to persuade former high-ranking police officials to testify against Dela Rosa and Duterte.

“Yung mga committee chairman , wala akong pagdududa, pero kung sinong nasa likod nitong mga committee na ito, ay yung speaker of the House ‘di ba? At alam ko this is the same person na nagkumbinsi yung mga opisyal na gustong bumaliktad, mag-execute ng affidavit laban sa amin ni President Duterte para sa ICC,” Dela Rosa said.

[Translation: I have no doubts about the committee chairpersons, but behind these committees is the Speaker of the House, right? And I know he’s the same person who convinced officials to turn against us and execute affidavits against me and President Duterte for the ICC.]

Dela Rosa maintained that he will not attend the House hearings despite a standing invitation, to avoid violating inter-parliamentary courtesy.