FUN FACT
Bato Dela Rosa, during his early assignment in Davao as a young officer, was nicknamed "Bato" (the Cebuano and Tagalog word for "rock") by his upperclassmen due to his solid physique and tough demeanor.
Behind his tough-guy image, Dela Rosa holds advanced academic degrees. After graduating from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1986, he earned a Master of Public Administration and later completed a Ph.D. in Development Administration from the University of Southeastern Philippines in 2006.
As a youth, he worked as a fish market porter and a public bus conductor to help support his family and fund his early education before entering the PMA.
As President Rodrigo Duterte’s first Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from 2016 to 2018, Dela Rosa was the primary operational architect of the administration's anti-drug campaign, including operations like Oplan Tokhang.
Dela Rosa has consistently defended police operations, maintaining that officers acted in self-defense (nanlaban) and that the drug war was necessary to dismantle illegal drug syndicates.
Following an anti-drug operation that accidentally resulted in the death of a 3-year-old girl, Dela Rosa's "sh*t happens" line sparked public outrage.
Following the issuance of an ICC arrest warrant, Dela Rosa became a central focus of national security and legal enforcement debates in the Philippines. Authorities issued a ₱50-million reward for information leading to his arrest, designating him as a fugitive from justice.