Mindanao as ‘dumpsite’ for rogue cops

No less than Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa admitted in a recent interview with Karen Davila that Mindanao has become a dumping ground for rogue cops. He said this among many other things he disclosed, showing his rather shallow understanding of national political dynamics, including his staunch support of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs. He served then as Duterte’s national police chief and chief implementer of “Oplan Tokhang,” code name for the former president’s war on drugs.

Bato admitted there are indeed some bad eggs in the national police force, and among them are rogue cops who he described as “having a background” on the use of illegal drugs, and a possible connection to those who are engaged in the illegal drug trade. He also claimed that some of these police officers have been convicted and sent to Mindanao (“pinagtatapon natin sa Mindanao”).

This admission is quite a mouthful and is evidence that he really does not care a bit about the place he claims to represent. Such a statement speaks volumes of Bato’s disdain for the land of his birth—Mindanao—that it only deserves the undesirable elements of the national police force.

It is true that this is not the first time a national leader has spoken ill of Mindanao—the contemporary history of the country’s second-biggest island is replete with anecdotes about imperial Manila leaders bringing the worst parts of the country’s security sector to Mindanao. But it is pathetic that a leader of Bato’s stature also believes in this myth that has long pervaded the national narratives about Mindanao being the land of uncouth and difficult-to-deal-with rebel leaders, and even of unruly despots. This view stems from the colonial narratives of Mindanao being akin to a poorly governed frontier, just like the legendary Wild, Wild West in colonial America. There is so much more to Mindanao than these narratives convey and portray.

Bato disclosed this as part of his answer to Davila’s questions on his support of the extrajudicial killings of Duterte and of his tough orders about how to deal with those “who create trouble, that police officers should shoot them, and shoot them dead, and that he will take responsibility for all the killings that happened” to implement this “order.” He justified this kind of order as proof that Duterte has balls (“may bayag”) to threaten those who are out to create trouble in their communities, especially the “criminals” among them. He rationalized once again that you cannot lead a country as a weak (“malamya”) leader, seeing that the country is filled with “criminals” everywhere.

The senator’s rumination on what constitutes a desirable leader as exemplified by Duterte is an indication of the shallow levels of his understanding of the real essence of leadership, that of stewardship and servant leadership. He also does not see that giving orders to kill people, even if indeed they are “criminals” is not for a president to decide.

Talking tough, according to the good senator, means instilling fear in the country’s constituents, so they will refrain from doing things that are contrary to law. Yet such tough talk only led to more incidences of drug-related crimes and killings, enough to push some of the victims to seek redress for the killing of their loved ones—children, brothers, and husbands—to an international body like the International Criminal Court (ICC). Hearing about this from Davila seemed to irk Bato, enough to respond to her by asserting that our justice system is functional and that bringing the cases of extrajudicial killings to ICC is proof that those people who brought these cases there look down on our judges, justices, and other Department of Justice key leaders and functionaries. Yet, he upholds that a president’s orders to shoot to kill “criminals” before they were tried in court is justifiable, a contradiction to his claim that our justice system works.

Bato has very little appreciation of the rule of law, as he defended Duterte’s orders of shooting “criminals” and shooting them dead as a “metaphor” or figure of speech so people would fear being entangled with indiscretions that can be considered criminal. This is admitting that police officers, under Duterte’s administration, were acting above the law, as ordered, and that they already considered possible suspects as criminals.

Like his former Philippine National Police chief, Duterte comes from Mindanao, the land he always claims to care for. He cares for it too much that he has acquiesced to the ruling of his then PNP chief that rogue cops be banished to Mindanao.

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