Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 17) — Housing for police or counterterrorism operations? How would Chief Police Director Ronald Dela Rosa want the drug war funds allocated?
With the drug war out of the hands of the Philippine National Police, Dela Rosa on Friday said he’d rather put the P900 million budget to rid the country of terrorists.
“I prefer more on the proposal to have it diverted towards the anti-terrorism campaign of the PNP,”he said in a media briefing, where he presented three arrested members of the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Senator Franklin Drilon proposed to move the budget from the anti-drug operations to housing for the police, while Senator JV Ejercito earlier said he wants it allocated instead to the counterterrorism operations of the police and military.
“More than the personal needs of my policemen, I would rather cater to the presssing needs of the community, which is the safety and security of the community,” he said.
Dela Rosa said he does not want a repeat of the Marawi siege. The five-month siege between government troops and ISIS-linked local terror group Maute group and foreign militants left the city in ruins and hundreds of police and civilians dead.
“We cannot afford to have a repeat of the Marawi siege kaya sana kung maibigay yung pera na ‘yan itutok na natin ‘yan sa counterterrorism,” he said.
The Philippines is the tops the list of countries in the Asia-Pacific region that is most affected by terrorism. It ranks 12th among 163 countries worldwide, according to a study by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Dela Rosa also said he is open to proposals to scrap the drug war budget entirely from the PNP’s proposed P131.5 billion 2018 budget.
“Hands off kami sa war on drugs so ano sabihin ng publiko, saan naman gagamitin yan wala naman kaming operation?” he said.
The PNP had previously asked for a P900M budget for their anti-drug operations in the General Appropriations Act 2018. This was before President Rodrigo Duterte turned over the helm of the drug war to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in October.
Dela Rosa previously said he would ask Duterte to allow policemen to lead the war on drugs again if he thinks the PDEA is not doing a good job.
The Senate still has to act on the proposed 2018 budget bill as approved by the House of Representatives. Differences will be reconciled in a conference committee. The reconciled version will be returned to the two chambers for ratification.
The administration plans to have President Rodrigo Duterte sign a new budget law before the next fiscal year begins in January 2018.
CNN Philippines’ Senior Correspondent David Santos contributed to this report.
