A word war has erupted between two top generals-turned-legislators over the true character of the bloody anti-drug campaign waged by the Duterte administration.
The verbal hostilities between Rep. Romeo Acop and Senator Ronald dela Rosa started when the former alleged that Duterte’s anti-drug program from 2016 to 2022 merely served as a cover for a “grand criminal enterprise” that purportedly helped the former president’s inner circle to benefit from the narcotics trade. The latter said the allegation angered him.
Acop, before getting elected as House representative of Antipolo City, held the rank of police chief superintendent and headed the Criminal Investigation Service (now the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) under then president Fidel V. Ramos. Dela Rosa, on the other hand, became a full-fledged police general when he was handpicked in 2016 by then president Duterte to head the entire national police.
Acop’s hostile summation of Duterte’s drug war came in a form of partial report by the Quad Committee of the House of Representatives after it conducted its 13th public hearing last December 13. “Ladies and gentlemen, the quad committee has started to uncover a grand criminal enterprise, and it would seem that at the center of it is the former president. This is incredibly painful because all of us were deceived,” said Acop, a lawyer.
“One of former President Duterte’s right-hand men (self-confessed hitman Arturo Lascañas) branded him as the lord of all drug lords. This is deeply painful because Duterte won on a platform of a hardline stance against illegal drugs and criminality, only for him to be the face of illegal drugs and criminality himself,” Acop added.
The Quad Committee vice chairman pointed out that despite the drug war, individuals linked to the illegal drug trade who were deemed close to Duterte — like former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang — were not investigated thoroughly.
Senator Dela Rosa, the first implementor of Duterte’s nationwide drug war, was incensed.
“Hindi ako dismayado. Galit ako sa kanya!” Dela Rosa said in a radio interview December 14.
(I am not just dismayed. I am angry.)
“Sinabi niyang binudol namin ang taumbayan. How dare he say that? Wala kaming binudol na tao! I swear before the graves of my policemen! Ang dami kong pulis na namatay!” Dela Rosa also said.
(He said we deceived the Filipino people. How dare he say that? We never cheated anyone. I swear before the graves of my policemen! Many of my policemen died.)
Dela Rosa accused Acop and the House leadership of pursuing a political agenda against the Dutertes.
Acop quickly responded with a public statement: “How dare I? I dare because this is my responsibility; to uncover the truth and ensure accountability. Everything I said during the summation is fully backed by the findings of the quad committee, based on testimonies and evidence from 13 hearings.”
“If Senator Dela Rosa feels the findings are inaccurate, he should present evidence to counter them rather than resorting to baseless claims of political intent,” he said.
Acop said Dela Rosa violated a tradition of respect within the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where they both graduated from.
“It’s a no-no for someone of the lower class in the PMA to disrespect a member of the upper class,” the congressman, a member of the PMA’s 1970 Magiting class, told the senator, a member of the 1986 PMA Sinagtala class. —VER BERMUDEZ (Contributing Editor)
