Press Release - Bato Dela Rosa slams Cong. Paduano for insisting presence in 2016 meeting with ex-PNP officers

Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa took a swipe at Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano for insisting his attendance in a supposed courtesy call of police officers with former President Rodrigo Duterte which is being linked to the death of three Chinese drug lords inside the Davao Penal Farm and Prison in August 2016.

The former PNP chief under the last administration issued the remark as he denied his attendance to the said meeting which reportedly took place in Davao City weeks after Duterte assumed office.

"It is very clear from the recorded video of that hearing that Cong. Paduano is very excited and very insistent of my alleged presence in that courtesy call despite repeated denials from all the resource persons. Again, I vehemently deny that I was a party to that courtesy call or meeting," Dela Rosa said in a statement.

"The effort to wholesale former President Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and myself in one single stroke is very evident in his line of questioning," he added.

At a joint House hearing last week, Paduano asked several questions to National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo regarding the supposed meeting and the latter had told the committee that he cannot recall seeing Dela Rosa in the said gathering.

Retired police colonel Royina Garma, who testified that the meeting took place and was present in the gathering, also stated that she cannot remember Dela Rosa in the said courtesy call.

Earlier, Dela Rosa slammed the ongoing House probe on war on drugs, saying this is a "fishing expedition" meant to crush Duterte allies ahead of the 2025 and 2028 elections.