Bato in awe of Colombia

National Police Chief Director General Ronald “Bato’ dela Rosa   INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

PHILIPPINE National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa is so impressed by the success of Colombia’s war on illegal drugs he wants to adopt some of the strategies locally.

Speaking to reporters in Camp Crame on Monday, Dela Rosa said legislation played a key role in the effective implementation of the Latin American country’s war on drugs, such as by allowing police to wiretap suspected criminals, particularly drug traffickers.

Dela Rosa headed a three-man PNP delegation to the Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics Exchange Conference held in Bogota from Sept. 19 to 23.

The conference, organized by the US Department of State, dwelt on regional issues and concerns on emerging terrorist threats, including narcoterrorism and transnational drug trafficking.

The PNP chief also cited Colombia’s law allowing forfeiture of property considered fruits of a crime. The state can forfeit the properties of drug lords even if they had died.

Dela Rosa said Colombia poured so much in resources to fund the war against illegal drugs, even using airplanes in antidrug operations.

“Ganoon kasarap ang buhay ng mga pulis nila, buhos ang suporta (That’s how good their police have it, they are fully supported),” he said.

“[Overall] it was a very productive trip, very professional and I heard of a lot of good practices that they are doing there and hopefully the good things we picked up we could use here,” he said in English and Filipino.

Dela Rosa said he was able to talk to Colombia’s chief of police about their antidrug campaign which addressed production, trafficking and distribution.

Colombia, however, failed in addressing addiction after the number of addicts grew when the government was able to stop the export of illegal drugs. Cynthia D. Balana