PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde. INQUIRER.NET / JAM STA ROSA
Director General Oscar Albayalde lamented on Monday the way some insist on their opinion about President Rodrigo Duterte’s purported admission of guilt regarding alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
“Apparently, they still take it in a different way,” Albayalde said, noting that Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo have explained that the President never made any such admission.
Last Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018, Duterte said during a speech, “Anong kasalanan ko? Nagnakaw ba ako diyan ni piso? Did I prosecute somebody na pinakulong ko? Ang kasalan ko lang ‘yung extrajudicial killings.”
(What sin did I do? Did I steal even a peso? Did I prosecute somebody who I ordered jailed? My only sin is the extrajudicial killings.)
READ: Duterte: My only sin is the extrajudicial killings
Critics quickly pounced on the statement saying Duterte admitted ordering EJKs.
Lawyer Jude Sabio, who filed in April 2017 the first of two charges alleging crimes against humanity against Duterte before the International Criminal Court, said the President’s statement boosted the case.
READ: Duterte ‘EJK confession’ seen boosting ICC probe
Roque said the President’s statement was taken out of its “proper context.”
“First, there is no admission on the part of the President. He merely wants to underscore the point that he has not been accused of corruption nor has he engaged in political vendetta. All the critics and detractors can allege are killings attributed to his drug war,” he said in a statement.
READ: Palace on Duterte’s EJK remark: ‘There was no admission’
Meanwhile, Panelo said Duterte, who is a Visayan, simply failed to express himself fully in Filipino, which is based on the Tagalog language.
“Obviously, the President, being a Visayan, is not adept at expressing himself in Filipino,” Panelo said.
READ: Panelo on EJK ‘admission’: Duterte is Visayan, not adept at Filipino
Albayalde said he himself had an interpretation of what the President’s statement.
“It probably is out of frustration dahil paulit-ulit na lang na sinasabi at wala nang maibato sa ating Pangulo (because it has always been repeated and there is nothing else that can be thrown against the President),” he said in a press briefing.
“We are entitled to our personal opinion of course. Sabi nga nila, walang mali ang opinion (As they say, there is no wrong opinion,” he added.
“It probably is out of frustration dahil paulit-ulit na lang na sinasabi at wala nang maibato sa ating Pangulo (because it has always been repeated and there is nothing else that can be thrown against the President),” he said in a press briefing.
The police chief said only the President could clarify his statement.
Albayalde also said there was no point arguing with critics who already closed their minds on the existence of vigilante killings in the country. /cbb