Drug lords raise bounty for Duterte to P50M—incoming PNP chief
Incoming Philippine National Police (PNP) director Chief Supt. Ronald
“Bato” Dela Rosa remains unfazed by the reported assassination threats
against him and President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
In an interview on ANC’s “Headstart” on Thursday, Dela Rosa said that
the bounties for him and for Duterte had been raised from P10 million
to P50 million because there were no takers.
“As of yesterday, they increased the bounty to P50 million. P50
million for Mayor Duterte, P50 million for me. In-increase nila dahil
nahirapan daw silang maghanap ng takers (They increased it because they
could not find any takers). No takers sa P10 million, so in-increase
nila (so they increased it) to P50 million,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa earlier claimed that the bounties were offered by drug lords incarcerated in the New Bilibid Prison.
“Bring it on, really. Bring it on. O, mas Malaki (it has become
bigger)—50 million. Okay, you come. Bring it on anytime—anytime of the
day, any place,” he said.
The former Davao police chief, who served from January 2012 to
October 2013, has shrugged off the threats against him, even joking that
he is “not that handsome” to fear death.
“Am I that handsome that I would be afraid to die? I am not afraid to die,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Dela Rosa vowed that with or without the P5 million bounty offered by
Duterte for the death of drug lords, he would stamp out illegal drugs
and criminality.
“May P5-million reward o wala, ang mga drug lord na iyan mamamatay
talaga iyan kapag lumaban sila kahit walang P5 million (Whether there is
a P5-million reward or not, those drug lords will be killed if they
fight),” he said in a separate Radyo Inquirer interview.
The President-elect first broached the idea of a P5 million bounty
for the killing of a drug lord during his thanksgiving party in Davao
City last week.
“Ang bayad ko ngayon, ‘pag drug lord, mag-announce na ‘ko, P5 million
‘pag patay. Kung buhay, P4 million 999 thousand lang,” Duterte told a
crowd of around 500,000 people during his victory party at the Crocodile
Park.
(If you kill a drug lord, you will receive P5 million. If a drug lord
is arrested alive, the informant receives just P4,999,000.)
He also said that he would offer millions of pesos worth of bounty to anyone who could kill or arrest drug traffickers. IDL/rga
