Dela Rosa to Spanish lawmaker: How dare you lecture us about human rights?

MANILA, Philippines — After exploiting the Philippines for more than 300 years, how dare you lecture [us] about human rights?

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa posed this question on Wednesday after a member of a European Union  (EU) human rights panel asked about a move in the Senate opposing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) probe against former President  Rodrigo Duterte.

Dela Rosa, who led the bloody war on drugs when he was the national police chief, was among the three senators who met with six members of the EU parliament to discuss human rights issues.

During the meeting, the senator said a lawmaker from Spain asked about a resolution earlier filed by Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

“Bakit naman pati yung pag pa-file ng resolution ng isang senador kukuwestyunin pa niya? That’s too much of tinkering with our  internal affairs. Who is he to question that move by Sen. Jinggoy?” Dela Rosa said when he spoke to reporters later.

(Why would he even questioned the filing of a resolution by a senator? That’s too much of tinkering with our internal affairs. Who is he to question that move by Sen. Jinggoy?)

The senator said he was “slighted by that kind of interference.”

And while not asking for any apology, he reminded how the country was colonized, ruled over, and exploited by Spaniards for more than 300 years.

“Ngayon [Now],  you are going  to lecture us about human rights? How dare you,” Dela Rosa said.

He said he already explained to EU lawmakers why they had to launch the war on drugs during Duterte’s time, noting how the country was close to becoming a narco state.

And while insisting that many of the reported 6,000 drug war deaths were killed in legitimate operations, Dela Rosa also  recognized some abuses committed by erring policemen.

But these abuses, he pointed out, are already being investigated by concerned government agencies.

Dela Rosa and Duterte are among the names the ICC wanted to investigate for crimes against humanity in connection with the thousands  of  people killed in their drug war.

JPV