Palace to public: Trust the Duterte justice system

NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Malacañang called on the public on Saturday to trust the justice system under President Rodrigo Duterte after charges were filed against police officers accused of killing a 17-year-old boy in cold blood during an antidrug sweep in Caloocan City that sparked public outrage.

“The President has reminded our law enforcement officers in numerous occasions that he will not tolerate their wrongdoings or illegal acts, and the filing of a criminal complaint underscores this resolve of the government,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement on state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

“Let us allow the legal process to run its course, and trust the justice system under the Duterte presidency,” Abella said.

The Public Attorney’s Office on Friday filed murder and torture charges against four officers linked to the Aug. 16 killing of Delos Santos, a Grade 12 student from Our Lady of Lourdes College whose burial on Saturday turned into a protest march against extrajudicial killings that drew hundreds of sympathizers.

The boy’s death, one of the thousands since the administration launched its war on drugs last year, triggered an outcry even from some of the President’s allies after witnesses and video footage disputed police claims that Delos Santos was a drug runner who was killed after he shot at officers pursuing him.

Mr. Duterte earlier said that if the investigation pointed to the police’s liability and they were convicted, they would go to jail.

He had promised to protect law enforcers who carried out his orders in the drug war, saying he would not allow them to be jailed or would pardon them. But he also said this did not mean he would tolerate wrongdoing.

The circumstances surrounding the killing of Delos Santos had stunned both opponents and supporters of the President, prompting senators on both sides to open an inquiry into the young man’s death at the hands of the police.

This has again put the Philippine National Police, its leadership and procedures under the spotlight.

An official of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) weighed in on the issue, reposting a meme from a pro-Duterte Facebook account that defended the PNP as an institution against attacks prompted by wrongdoings by some officers.

“If the acts of a few priests cannot be used to condemn the entire church, why do some insist on condemning the entire PNP because of three cops,” said the meme, which was posted by CHEd Commissioner Prospero de Vera on his Facebook page.

“Good point,” De Vera remarked.

Some priests and bishops have been the most vocal critics of the President’s war on drugs, saying the bloody campaign was antipoor.

De Vera appeared to seek a more balanced view of both the Church and the PNP, citing the “consistency (or inconsistency) of the position taken by many people or by institutions” toward offenses committed by both the police and the clergy.

“It is possible that there are many more policemen involved in illegal activities, but the same goes for priests,” he said.

In defending his antinarcotics campaign, Mr. Duterte has often made scathing criticisms of priests and the Church, saying they were not helping rid the country of the drug menace.

He said early this year that the Church and the clergy were all talk and had no moral ascendancy, citing instances when priests had molested young students.

Later, he called the Catholic Church the “most hypocritical institution” in the country.