LAST Oct. 15, 2016, PNP chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa relieved Marvin Marcos as Region 8 head of CIDG, the police investigation & detention group, on suspicion that Marcos and his troops were protecting or colluding with drug traffickers. On the same day, President Duterte rescinded his police chief’s order.
The Senate committees that looked into the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.-- public order & dangerous drugs and justice & human rights--reported yesterday that the mayor wouldn’t have been killed had Duterte not “micromanaged” the police.
Espinosa was killed Nov. 5, 2016. The committee’s theory was that had the CIDGs been pulled out and Bato’s order not been rescinded, the cops couldn’t have served the warrant in the Baybay, Leyte jail where the mayor and a co-accused were murdered to silence them. Assuming, of course, they wouldn’t have pulled it off in another way.
Management style
The committees couldn’t say outright that it was Duterte’s fault. They had to go around it by blaming management technique instead.
But was there evidence that Duterte micro-managed? One act didn’t tell enough. Harvard Business School’s tips to spot micro-management require a series of acts that showed Duterte wasn’t satisfied with results of Bato’s job, was often frustrated with the way work was done, took “pride or pain” to show how he’d have gone about it, and demanded constant updates.
And whatever his style is called, Duterte can overrule Bato, both as commander in chief and as the job-giver who can take it away anytime.
Not his own mind
It’s Bato’s cocksureness that must bother even Duterte. The PNP chief said he knows what Duterte wants. “it’s already programmed in my brain,” he said in Tagalog. If he was so freaking sure what his boss wanted, why did he issue the order that had to be embarrassingly recalled? It must have occurred to him Duterte would still defend the police raiders despite evidence of their alleged wrongdoing.
Whether micro-managed or not, Bato would’ve no mind of his own that couldn’t be reversed or superseded by presidential decision..