Church hopes bad cops don’t become EJK victims

Now that the Duterte government has turned its eye on erring policemen, the Catholic Church warned the Philippine National Police (PNP) against killing them.

Fr. Amado Picardal, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Basic Ecclesial Communities, said he hopes the PNP will follow the law in going after scalawag cops.

Summary killings of drug suspects have eased after the PNP put on hold the war on drugs to pursue rogue policemen, like the ones who kidnapped and killed Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

READ: PNP: War on drugs suspended, purge of bad cops on

However, Picardal told Radyo Veritas that he fears that extrajudicial killings will continue, this time with the bad cops as victims.

“I hope they will follow the law, ang (the) due process, I am worried gagamitin naman nila ang EJK sa mga pulis na suspected sa drugs at corruption, dapat internal cleansing na ayon sa batas (I am worried that they will use the EJKs on police suspected in drugs and corruption, what must be done is internal cleansing according to the law),” he said.

He said scalawag cops should undergo due process by being charged, jailed and dismissed from service.

“I-charge at hindi dapat patayin (Charge them, they shouldn’t be killed),” Picardal said.

The CBCP earlier released a pastoral letter saying that “violence against violence” won’t solve anything. CDG