President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
President Rodrigo Duterte may be unforgiving in his war on drugs but he is assuring justice for the victims of police abuses in his bloody anti-narcotics crackdown.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this assurance on Christmas eve when asked about Duterte’s Christmas message to the families mourning for the death of their loved ones due to the government’s vicious campaign on illegal drugs.
“Ang mensahe po ng Presidente ay bibigyan po ang lahat ng katarungan. Kung meron pong pruweba na talagang labag sa batas o ilegal ang pagpatay, asahan niyo po na ang Presidente, na dating piskal, ay magbibigay ng katarungan sa mga biktima,” Roque said in an interview over Radyo Inquirer 990AM.
(The message of the President is that he will give everyone justice. If there is proof that the deaths of their loved ones was illegal, you can count on the President, who was a former fiscal, to give justice to the victims.)
Roque reiterated the oft-repeated line of Duterte, saying the police have the President’s backing in the conduct of their anti-drug operations but was quick to say that he won’t tolerate abusive policemen.
“Well, malinaw naman ang sinabi ng ating Presidente na sagot niya ang kapulisan kung ang mga nangyaring patayan ay sang-ayon sa batas pero kung ito po ay ilegal, ito po ay krimen na murder, ay ipakukulong niya ‘yan,” he said.
(Well, it’s clear that what the President said that he will support the police if the killings were legal but if they were illegal, a crime of murder, then we will jail them.)
In August, Duterte assured the public that the police officers behind the killing of 17-year old Kian Loyd delos Santos would go to jail if proven guilty.
This and other killings of minors in his drug war prompted Duterte to remove the Philippine National Police (PNP) from the lead role in his controversial drug war, amid mounting criticisms of police abuses and human rights violations.
He has ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to be the sole agency to conduct the anti-drug operations of the government.
In December, the President returned the PNP to the drug war but would only provide “active support” to the PDEA and would not take the lead role.
Data from the PNP showed that there were 6,225 drug-related deaths from July 2016 to September 2017.
Among these, 3,850 have “died in police operations,” for resisting arrest while the 2,290 were on “deaths under investigation.” /je