Dela Rosa says Duterte gives him free hand to run PNP

March 13, 2017

The Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said  President Rodrigo Duterte is not micromanaging the police after two Senate committees accused him of doing so.

“I would like to tell you frankly that I am given by the president a free hand to run the PNP organization,” he said.

“I am not being micromanaged by the president. He has a very big trust in me and I feel the big responsibility of my shoulders to run and manage the PNP the way it should be run properly,” Dela Rosa added.

Dela Rosa emphasized Duterte is just “a hands-on leader but not a micromanager.”

“It means he know everything that happens in the PNP and in the country and he concern about everything that happens in the Philippines,” he said.

Dela Rosa defended the president after the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs and the committee on justice and human rights recommended that Duterte should not micromanage the PNP.

The recommendation was made as Duterte’s order to reinstate Superintendent Marvin Marcos as head of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 8 after Dela Rosa relieved him due to the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.

Dela Rosa explained that he cannot totally be independent from the president.

“He told me (to) go ahead you do what is necessary and I a very thankful to the president for that full trust and confidence in me but I cannot totally be independent from the president because I am under the executive branch of the government,” Dela Rosa added.

“At the end of the day the president is answerable to the Filipino people,” he added.

“He is concerned because he is hands on but as to the crucial decision on what to do on a particular issue and he will tell me it’s up to you to decide, you are the commander, that is what he always told me,” he added.

Dela Rosa also emphasized how he was trusted by the president.

“For me, on my part to be working with the president in the last 35 years that we work together, I already know what he wants, what he desires and I can read his mind so to speak,” he said.

“So he no longer needs to dictate me, because his desire was already programed to my mind,” Dela Rosa added. Robina Asido/DMS