Dela Rosa tells disgraced cops: ‘I’m still very proud of you’

Dela Rosa
Dela Rosa addresses a parade of disgraced Caloocan cops today. Picture via Twitter

Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has told a parade of disgraced cops that he was “still very proud” of them.

Following the murder of three children and a burglary, the entire 1,157-strong Caloocan City police force was suspended from duty.

ADVERTISEMENT

Today, Dela Rosa addressed the police officers on their first day of retraining today (Monday, October 2).

He said: “In front of the media, I will say I’m still very proud of you. Even if you say that my people are fools, I’m still very proud of them.

“Because before, Caloocan cops got money from the drug trade, now, they attacked the problem.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Dela Rosa was referring to the city police force was named as the best in Metro Manila, just days before they were removed from duty en-masse.

Previously, the cops had received a tongue-lashing from Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde. Dela Rosa’s approach, however, was very different.

“I am not angry at you,” he said, “in fact, I admire you for what you did in Caloocan.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Don’t mind the criticism, we don’t have to make ourselves look good or be popular.”

Dela Rosa vs the media

Dela Rosa also took aim at the media for focussing on the wrongdoings of police officers. “Let’s do our job properly,” he said. “You know there’s CCTV, smartphones, with just one mistake there’s a big chance that you will land on social media. Let’s be careful in our jobs, our little blunder would be exaggerated by media for sure.”

He also complained that police casualties were not widely reported by the media.

Referring to the case of policeman Ronald Anicete, who was injured in an encounter with a knife-wielding man, he said: “Our colleague who was stabbed in Caloocan, did the media magnify it? No. It’s not good news.

“Did ABS-CBN repeatedly present that news? Nothing, right? It’s not good news that’s why it was not shown.”

The policemen will now undergo re-training for up to 45 days at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.