MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police chief is undeniably elated by the rare opportunity of standing side by side and having a photo op with the leader of the world’s most powerful nation.
On his Facebook account, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa posted his pictures with U.S. President Donald Trump and wrote this caption: “When Ronald meets Donald,” adding that when an American secret service agent introduced him to Trump, the latter said, “Ohhhh…” and the rest of the U.S. leader’s statement, according to Dela Rosa, could no longer be disclosed because it was “classified.”
Dela Rosa decided to keep mum on Tuesday when he was asked by reporters what Trump exactly told him. He said disclosing it might trigger reactions from left-leaning groups.
“Wala akin, na lang ‘yon. Hindi ko na…mamaya mag-react na naman ‘yong mga militante d’yan,” he said.
“Sabi ko classified sinabi niya. Ayoko na sabihin. Amin na ‘yon [What he said was classified. I don’t want to reveal it. It’s just between me and him],” Dela Rosa added.
The PNP has caught the ire of activist groups for using an allegedly deafening sonic device to disperse protesters during the Asean Summit in Manila.
Though Dela Rosa sees nothing questionable about the use of the said weapon, he said he was open to being investigated about it.
The group AGHAM or Advocates of Science and Technology for the People said the PNP’s use of long range acoustic device (LRAD) “is patterned after US-style fascism to suppress the people by whatever means.”
“LRAD was first used to disperse a protest in 2009 during the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where victims sustained permanent hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing of the ears), barotrauma, ear pain, and disorientation when the LRAD was activated without warning,” AGHAM said.
