MANILA, Philippines — While local media continue to criticize him for killings in connection with the government’s war on illegal drugs, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said yesterday he is considered a hero by Chinese media.

He said a female staff of a Beijing hotel, where he stayed when he attended the 86th International Police (Interpol) General Assembly last week, told him she looked him up using Google.

When Dela Rosa asked her what she found out, she said, “According to the Chinese media, you are a hero in the Philippines.”

Dela Rosa, in a speech during yesterday’s flag-raising ceremony at Camp Crame, said he told her that “for local media in my country, I am a villain. She said, ‘No, no, you are a hero.’ She then knelt in front of me and said she was very lucky to be assigned to me.”

In another speech, this time before more than 1,000 Caloocan police officers who started their retraining at Camp Bagong Diwa yesterday, Dela Rosa said he is proud of what they have accomplished in the war against illegal drugs.

The entire Caloocan police force was relieved after some Caloocan policemen were accused for killing two teenagers and staging an illegal drug raid to rob a resident.

He said that during his recent visit to Caloocan, he noticed some “habal-habal” drivers and dispatchers have sunken cheeks due to their use of illegal drugs.

“So you can see that the drug problem in Caloocan is at its worst and yet you confronted the problem head-on. I’m proud of what you have done,” Dela Rosa told the policemen.