Accused of carrying out a “reward system” that resulted in extra-judicial killings that victimized thousands of suspected drug pushers, former police chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said he will be at the forefront of a bloody drug war if asked to do it again.



Interviewed by Senate reporters on Thursday (October 24), Dela Rosa said he has no qualms about the criticisms he has been getting over the drug war that resulted in the death of over 6,000 suspected drug pushers and users, including minors and the innocent.



“No, no regrets. If you are going to give me the chance to do it again, I will do it again. Same approach,” said Dela Rosa, who was the Philippine National Police chief when then President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an all out war against illegal drug syndicates in the country.



“You can’t fight a war, especially against the drug personalities by being disente, by being pa-cute-cute. There’s no way you can win the battle, win the war, you have to be forceful enough to send your message downt he spine of these criminals,” he said.



Duterte, Dela Rosa and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go are being implicated in the reward system that granted cash incentives to law enforcement personnel who are able to kill or arrested suspected drug peddlers when Duterte assumed office as president in 2016.



All three vehemently denied the existence of such reward system.



Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma implicated three to the drug killings and the reward system that allegedly financed it.



Last Tuesday, tecently-resigned National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo confirmed Garma’s testimony before the Lower House Quad Committee.



On Monday, the Senate will launch a parallel legislative inquiry into the drug war, a move that Dela Rosa and Go had initiated.



Dela Rosa aired hopes that the Senate will be able to ferret out the truth about the drug war reward system, saying that he does not have to prepare for the inquiry because he has the truth by his side.