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LRTA chief, Duterte's buddy Berroya, talks about Ping, Erap

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<figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1459580" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure>Retired police general Reynaldo Berroya revealed he now has smooth relations with former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, but not with Senator Panfilo Lacson.In an interview with ANC&#x27;s Headstart, the new Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) administrator said he is now &quot;drinking buddies&quot; with Estrada after they were &quot;brought together&quot; by a common friend.Conversely, Berroya admitted that he is not in speaking terms with his former colleague in the police force, Lacson.&quot;We’ve had, I think, three encounters. We met in two hotels accidentally. We did not talk to each other. We came face-to-face during a committee hearing in the Senate. He walked out. I do not know why,&quot; he recalled.Berroya and Lacson used to be commanders of task forces under the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), then-headed by Vice-President Estrada. They parted ways in 1996 after Berroya was convicted for kidnapping a Taiwanese businessman, based on evidence Lacson and his men gathered.Berroya was dismissed from police service following the conviction, but was reinstated in 1999 after the Supreme Court reversed the lower court&#x27;s decision. Lacson was already the police chief then.Since then, he has been one of Lacson&#x27;s staunchest critics, notably, during the Kuratong Baleleng controversy, where Lacson and several other police officials were charged with multiple murder in connection with the death of suspected members of the robbery gang.To this day, Berroya maintains the truth in his tirades against Lacson, saying &quot;I cannot take back what I have said because they are true things about him—up to now.&quot;&quot;I said that they have murdered. By reports, they have been killing here and there, and I said that he did the killing; I did not say that he’s a murderer...I stand by everything that I have said,&quot; he added.<div>KNOWING DUTERTE</div>Berroya&#x27;s appointment to his new post has raised some eyebrows because he is not a transport or rail expert, but he maintained that he is qualified for the job, having been Transportation assistant secretary and Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief.He admitted that he &quot;tried to help [President Rodrigo Duterte] in a little way&quot; during the last elections, but maintained that their connection goes way back.&quot;We were riders, motorcycle riders earlier on when I was in the military and the Constabulary. That was the time when there was a PC [Philippine Constabulary] organization. When I was in the police service, I would meet him [when he was] a mayor,&quot; he said.He also believes the Kuratong Baleleng rubout is not comparable to today&#x27;s killings, the cost of President Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s war on drugs.&quot;When I assailed them for the Kuratong rubout, it was a proven rubout. Whereas, the situation today, those killings that are not done by the police are supposed to be killings under investigation and they have not found out the real story,&quot; he said.Berroya also rejected the idea that the police as a whole have abused Duterte’s support for the police force.&quot;Probably there are some. I cannot be sure about the statistics, but you know, somehow, somebody must go slow, the lower ranks. The president means well in eradicating the drug problem in the country,” he said.He also believes that Duterte’s speeches about the police shooting the suspects when they put up a fight do not inspire the killings of the drug suspects.&quot;I’m not inspired to kill because of these statements..I agree that there may be some who are abusing it, who have misinterpreted the guidance of the President,&quot; he said.

Retired police general Reynaldo Berroya revealed he now has smooth relations with former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, but not with Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Retired police general Reynaldo Berroya revealed he now has smooth relations with former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, but not with Senator Panfilo Lacson.