Pacquiao slams erring cops abusing gov’t war on drugs

Senator Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday slammed the abuses committed by the police during the government’s anti-drug war, reminding them that President Rodrigo Duterte never ordered them to take the law into their own hands.

“I fully support President Duterte’s war on drugs but I don’t support the senseless killings ng mga abusadong pulis na umaabuso sa kanilang kapangyarihan (of those abusive policemen who are taking advantage of their power),” Pacquiao said at the Senate session.

Pacquiao was manifesting his support for the Senate resolution filed by the majority bloc condemning the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos and seeking probe into the drug war deaths.

The boxer-turned-senator, who also hails from Mindanao, reiterated that Duterte never instructed the police to “violate the law.”

He also mentioned the President’s promise to jail the cops who killed Delos Santos if they would be proven guilty of murdering the victim.

READ: Duterte vows to punish cops in Kian killing if proven guilty

“Even President Duterte said, if police murdered Kian delos Santos, siya mismo ang maghahatid sa kulungan o magpapakulong at ‘yan ang malinaw na paninindigan ng Pangulo na nililinaw lang niya na ini-instruct-an niya ang police na gawin ang kanilang trabaho pero hindi naman in-instruct ng Pangulo na labagin nila ‘yung batas at i-violate nila ‘yung batas natin (he will be the one who will bring them to jail and that is the clear stance of the President, which making it clear that he is instructing the police to do their duty but not instructing them to violate the law),” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao then emphasized that he supports the Duterte administration’s war on drugs “but not at the expense of the rule of law.”

“It’s our duty to uphold the principle of due process,” he said.  JPV