Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has vehemently denied the story of British newspaper The Guardian quoting a senior police officer who admitted to the existence of a secret hit squad composed of policemen formed to go after hardened criminals and drug suspects.

“For the record, I vehemently deny such formation of a hit squad,” Dela Rosa said in an interview on Wednesday.

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The Guardian published on Tuesday an exclusive report about a senior officer claiming to be a part of “one of 10 highly secretive special operations teams.” Each “special ops” team had 16 members, all from the police force.

The officer, who spoke with Guardian reporter Kate Lamb in a brothel somewhere in Manila, revealed that the team usually did their job at night with “officers hooded and dressed in all black.”

A portion of the story read: “They set their watches, giving themselves one minute or two to extract target individuals from their houses and kill on the spot—swift, precise, no witnesses. He claims they then dump the bodies—in the next town or under a bridge—or they plaster masking tape around the head of the corpse and place a cardboard sign on the body that reads “drug lord” or “pusher”

Dela Rosa said he did not see the point of forming a “special ops” team whose sole job was to execute drug personalities vigilante-style when the “ordinary cops” could be tapped anytime in drug operations.

“Kailangan pa ba natin mag-hit squad na pwede mo namang gamitin ang regular performance duties ng isang ordinaryong pulis para diyan sa drugs, bakit kailangan pa ng hit squad?

The police chief also challenged the Guardian reporter to present to him her source.

Until Dela Rosa hears the claims from the police official himself, he said he would consider the story a hoax.

“I am hoping that the source will reveal that to us. Unless hindi niya i-reveal sa atin, sasabihin ko sa kanya ’yung nagbabalita na ’yan na ’yung balita niya is a hoax. (She) is inventing (her) story, kung hindi niya sabihin sakin kung sino ’yung senior police official na ’yan. Baka meron siyang sariling agenda,” he said.

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Unfazed by the possible backlash from the police official’s claims, Dela Rosa said he would not be afraid and would continue doing his job well.

“I am not afraid. We have just to continue doing our job well and I’m sure the public is behind us. I am not afraid of any erosion of public confidence,” he said.

The tough-talking police chief also hit the police officer who made the hit squad claims for destroying the PNP’s reputation.

“’Yung official na ’yan sa nagsasabi, sana may bayag. Opisyal ka pa naman, opisyal ka pa naman tapos ganon ang gagawin mo, sisirain mo ’yung organisasyon. Anong klaseng official ka? Wala kang bayag,” he said.

The police official, he said, might be just one of the “disgruntled senior officers who don’t approve of how I run the organization,” adding that he might be among those police officials with drug links.

“You cannot please everyone. I don’t think a senior official in his right mind will accuse his organization of forming such illegal groups or illegal formations ng mga ganong designed for illegal purpose,” Dela Rosa said.

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