MANILA - By all indications successful in his maiden political bid, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa said he still needs training on how to craft laws, which is the very essence of his work as a legislator.

"Meron bang seminar diyan o ano bang training diyan para matutunan ko 'yung paano gawin 'yung batas. Ano ba ang mga trabaho namin diyan sa Senado? Kung merong ganun, I will take that opportunity para matuto ako," he said Tuesday night in an interview on CNN Philippines.

(Is there is a seminar or training where I could learn on how to make laws? What's our work in the Senate? If there's any, I will take that opportunity so I could learn.)

Dela Rosa served as President Rodrigo Duterte's top cop in Davao City during his time as Mayor and was Malacañang's chief enforcer of the anti-drug campaign when he was national police chief.

The former police and corrections chief, who has spent most of his entire professional career in law enforcement, is among the candidates leading the pack in the senatorial race.

Dela Rosa has garnered 18,399,919 million votes, with election returns from 96.05 percent of clustered precincts counted, based on data from the Commission on Elections transparency server as of 5:10 a.m Wednesday.

The former police chief said he was confident of victory based on how warmly he was received by the public during the campaign.

"Hindi ko basehan 'yung survey. Nararamdam ko sa pag-iikot ko. Ramdam ko ang tanggap sa taumbayan sa akin. Sabi ko, mananalo ako dito. Mananalo ako," Dela Rosa said.

(I didn't consider the surveys. I could feel it during my campaign caravans. I could feel the public acceptance. I said, I would win. I would win.)

President Rodrigo Duterte's endorsement was also a big factor in the campaign, he said.

During the interview, Dela Rosa said he would rather not take a public administration course in the University of the Philippines because it is "anti-police."

"Pag-UP, hindi na ako pupunta dun. Alanganin ako sa lugar na 'yan... Anti-military ang lugar na 'yan. Ayaw kong pumunta diyan. Anti-police 'yan," he said.

(I'd rather not go to UP. It's risky. The place is anti-military. I don't want to go there. It's anti-police.)

He also said he would rather ask for help from fellow senatorial candidates Koko Pimentel and JV Ejercito.

"Ano ba talaga ang trabaho ng senador? What do I need to prepare?" he said.

Pimentel is at 11th place with 14,255,261 votes while Ejercito has 13,975,299 votes.

"Kaya nga malungkot ako. Magdasal nalang. Sana si JV makaakyat, si Koko 'wag nang bumaba," Dela Rosa said.

(That's why I am sad. I'll just pray. I hope JV's ranking would go up and Koko's wouldn't go down.)