PHILIPPINE National Police chief Director Ronald dela Rosa on Monday raised the possibility of leading a vigilante group against rogue police officers when he retires next year.
Dela Rosa vowed to go after scalawag cops up to the last minute of his service.
And if there were others who would continue their illegal activities after his retirement, he would hunt them down.
But only hours later within the day, dela Rosa clarified would only join a vigilante group in very extreme circumstances.
He told a news conference, speaking in Filipino, “what I said, if we are already very frustrated, you have reached a point that you could no longer do anything and the drug lords would be lliterally lording it over our society, there is no more law and order, I would become a vigilante against criminals, particularly narco-poliuce and drug lords.”
“That is a very, very extreme situation next to impossibility,” he added.
Dela Rosa said many rogue police officers were making plans to continue their illegal activities after his retirement next January.
“I am aware there are many scalawags there who hate me, particularly the ninja cops. You are free to come and hunt me down. I won’t step back even if by then I would already be retired,” he said.
“Remember, it’s my life or your life,” he added.
Dela Rosa said he was ready to die and would ensure that he would bring the rogue cops dead with him if that would happen.
The PNP chief, meanwhile, said his earlier pronouncement would not encourage violence and vigilantism.
He added vigilantism should be a “last resort” when people had become hopeless and suicidal.
He said his statement was hypothetical, adding he still believed in the criminal justice system and the PNP as the country’s main law enforcement agency.
“What I said was not definite, not a fixed statement. That is a hypothetical situation. We still have faityh in the criminal justice system and the PNP as the country’s main law enforcement agency,” dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said when he retires next year, he becomes a civilian and the Office of the Ombudsman would not be able to go after him if he gets frustrated and goes after rogue policemen.
Dela Rosa said it would be his duty as a Filipino to defend the country from bad elements.