Palace on death of ex-mayor on ‘narcolist’: Political status irrelevant in drug war
MANILA, Philippines — The death of a former mayor included in the President’s “narcolist” proves that the administration’s drug war sees no social or political status, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a text message to reporters.
“Regardless of the social and political status of persons involved and /or engaged in the illegal drug industry, the same fate will necessarily befall them if they resist arrest and shoot it out with the arresting officers,” Panelo said.
He issued the statement after a former local executive was fatally shot by police and anti-narcotics agents on Friday after allegedly resisting arrest and shooting it out with authorities and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
READ: Ex-mayor on Duterte ‘narcolist,’ bro killed in Maguindanao police raid
The Palace official noted that the “law allows lawmen to use mortal violence against those who imperil their lives in the course of a legitimate police operation or arrest.“
He stressed that the “drug menace has struck and destroyed a generation of Filipinos and threatens the next one.”
“It has been the cause of the commission of crimes against persons and properties,” he said.
“It made dysfunctional families of those who have been addicted to the prohibited drugs,” he added.
Moreover, Panelo reminded that President Rodrigo Duterte’s “relentless” campaign against illegal drugs “will continue pursuant to his constitutional authority to serve and protect the people.”
“The state has not initiated and will never initiate drug related killings outside the ambit of the law,” he said.
The presidential spokesman, nevertheless, said that the government “will pursue to the ends of the earth those who kill without justifying and exempting circumstances as provided by law until they are put behind bars.”
“There will be no sacred cows in this administration. Those who disobey or violate the law will pay the price for their crimes or transgressions,” Panelo said.
“The President will employ any means, unconventional or not but constitutionally allowed, to enforce the law. The President shall fulfill his constitutional mandate until the end of his term,” he added. /je
