“I was born in Barangay Bato in Sta. Cruz Davao del Sur,” he says. “Then, dahil solid na solid ang katawan ko noon due to workouts, my colleagues called me Bato.”
He comes from very humble beginnings. Born on January 21, 1962, his dad is a tricycle driver and his mom is a market vendor. He first worked as a market porter and, later, bus conductor. He walks 8 kilometers to and from school without any “baon” and he’d get his lunch by doing his classmates’ school assignments. He’s serious in getting a good education and after going to the local high school, he got a public administration degree from the Mindanao State University then was accepted at the PMA where he graduated in 1986.
He then got his masters in public admin and doctorate in development admin from Southeastern Philippines University in Davao City. As a cop, he got more training in the USA and Australia. He became Davao City police chief and later worked with PNP HQ in Camp Crame. He was PNP chief for two years then became the director of the Bureau of Corrections before he filed his certificate of candidacy as senator. He is one of those who top surveys and he now gets his own share of bashers, but he has learned to ignore them.
“I don’t let them affect me because I have more admirers than bashers,” he says. “They want me to repackage myself but this is me, you have to take me for what I am.”
If ever his life would be filmed, he wants it to be an action-comedy. “Maaksiyon ang buhay ko dahil sa dami ng kriminal na nakalaban ako. Pero masayahin akong tao kaya dapat may comedy rin.”
If ever, he’d like Robin Padilla to portray him with Sharon Cuneta as his wife, Nancy Johnson Comandate to whom he's been married since 1989. They have three children. “But no apo yet. Ayaw pang mag-asawa ng mga anak ko, e.”He enjoys going around the country in his motorcycle. “Mas enjoy ako kasi nakakaikot ako sa iba’t ibang probinsiya at nami-meet ko nang harapan ang mga tao,” he adds. “Gusto ko talagang magserbisyo sa bansa.”
What would be his advocacies as a senator? “First on my agenda is the restoration of the death penalty for drug traffickers. Yung mga nagbabaha ng drugs dito sa atin galing sa China. Sa ibang countries, takot sila kasi may death penalty. Dito, nakakulong lang sila and sometimes, they even operate while in prison. Then I want to return the training of cops sa PNP mismo. Kasi, paano mo sila madidisiplina if they’re not directly under you? Then I will push for the National ID as a deterrent to crime and for prepaid cellphones to be listed down kasi ginagamit sa krimen then you cannot even track them down. We need a law for that.”
What’s his take on cops complaining about how they’re portrayed in “Probinsyano”? “I can understand them kasi 2 percent lang naman ang rogue cops, pero bakit puro yun ang pinapakita nila? How about the accomplishments of the 98 percent na matino naman? Dapat yun ang ipakita nila, not just the negative.”
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