De Lima: PNP is most organized crime group in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima lambasted on Monday the Philippine National Police (PNP) and labeled it as the "most organized criminal group" in the Philippines following the decision of the country's top cop to suspend the government's war on drugs to cleanse the police force of rotten lawmen.

De Lima directly blamed the president for the transformation of the police into a "vigilante death squad."

"The moment Duterte has turned the PNP into a vigilante death squad, its transformation into an organized criminal syndicate has been completed," De Lima said. "When you speak of organized crime in the Philippines, you speak of the PNP under Duterte."

De Lima also branded the halt to the government's war on drugs as part of its "media obfuscation" strategy. According to the senator, this is part of the broader "gaslighting" scheme of the government in which it would feed Filipinos with lies they wanted to believe while exerting control over them through more lies.

In particular, she criticized the PNP chief, Ronald dela Rosa, for his contradictory statements following his announcement that the government's anti-drug campaign was suspended to prioritize its "war on scalawags" among police ranks.

"We can no longer distinguish between the truth and the lies when this government speaks from the podium," De Lima, a former justice secretary in the previous administration, said.

The senator also put into question the President's mental health because of the contradictions between his official pronouncements and actions.

"This is why I continue to worry about the state of the President's mental health. He displays signs of cognitive dissonance not only in his carefree monologues but worse, also in his official pronouncements," De Lima said.

De Lima scored Duterte for relying on the police in his war on drugs. Using the kidnap-slay of Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo as an example, De Lima predicted that rogue policemen's activities would expand to other "police cottage industries" such as kidnap-for-ransom and business shakedowns.

The PNP is currently embroiled in a scandal after police officers from its anti-drugs unit kidnapped and killed Jee right inside the national headquarters of the national police. The president has already apologized for the incident and vowed that the perpetrators will be "sentenced to the maximum." The anti-drugs unit of the PNP has since been dissolved.

The killing of Jee has cast serious doubt on the government's vaunted anti-drugs campaign, an important plank of the Chief Executive's platform in last year's presidential election in which he won a substantial plurality of votes although still short of an overall majority.