WHEN news broke out on the supposed arrest of fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, journalists scampered for details required of data-driven news. But was there really an arrest?
No less than Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla admitted in an ambush interview that Dela Rosa’s last known location was in Mindanao.
Assuming there’s some truth in what this press-con savvy official is bragging, why didn’t he order the Philippine National Police (PNP) to cordon the area where he claims Bato was hiding?
Knowing Remulla, he is good at offering excuses. He denied social media claims Bato had already been arrested. As it turns out, the last known location that he’s bragging about has yet to be validated.
From the vantage point of a journalist who spent years as a police reporter, I’m looking into the possibility that Jonvic was telling the truth when he said Bato’s last known location was in Mindanao.
Operatives could have swooped into Bato’s hideout, but failed to arrest him. Was it a bungled operation?
Jonvic then offered another excuse. He attributed the reports of Dela Rosa’s supposed arrest to the spread of fake news designed to sway public attention away from the ongoing Senate impeachment trial.
For one, Jonvic is a dismal failure from day one after being appointed as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). He caused division in the Philippine National Police (PNP) by asking for the removal of then PNP chief Nicolas Torre.
Torre earned Jonvic’s ire after refusing to sign a document which looks more like a request for budget insertion to defray the cost of an P8-billion arms deal.
It’s been some time since Jonvic promised to put fugitives Atong Ang and Gerald Bantag behind bars.
To date, nada!
In less than two years, the President who appointed him as DILG will be stepping down but Jonvic has yet to step up.