Duterte: Assure me you can kill drug lords and you’ll get PNP top post

President Rodrigo Duterte. ACE MORANDANTE / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO (file)

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte wants a “better deal” from the conteders for the next  Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.

Duterte said he wanted the police official who could promise him to kill drug lords to be the next head of the 190,000-strong police force.

“Hirap ako sa pulis. Mahal ko ‘yung mga pulis ko pero hirap ako sa mga official. I mean they’re all good but I want a better deal,” he said in an interview over GMA 7’s Unang Hirit on Monday morning.

(I am having a hard time with the police. I love my police but I am having a hard time with the officials. I mean they’re all good but I want a better deal.)

“It’s not enough that you recommend to me. Kung sabihin, ‘Sir pag akong pinili mo patay lahat ang drug lords, patay lahat.’ Okay, ikaw,” he added.

(It’s not enough that you recommend to me. If you say, “Sir, if you choose me, all drug lords will be killed. All dead. Okay, it’s you.)

Duterte said he had not appointed a new PNP head after its former chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde resigned in October at the height of an investigation on the case of “ninja cop.”

Albayalde retired from police service on November 8.

The President on Thursday said he would take over the PNP leadership if he won’t be able to look for its new head.

In a Palace briefing, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte wanted an honest police official.

“What he’s saying is that he wants an honest cop, he doesn’t want any cop that has been charged with any irregularity, any infraction, whether administrative or criminal,” Panelo said.

Edited by JPV