PNP chief: No president is foolish enough to murder own people

INQUIRER.net/Jhoanna Ballaran

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City—Who is a fool of a president that would order the murder of his own people?

This was the question of Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to Human Rights Watch (HRW), who accused President Rodrigo Duterte of “inciting and instigating” extra-judicial killings in the context of administration’s bloody drug campaign.

“Anong state-sponsored? Sinong g*g*ng presidente ang magpapatay sa kaniyang sariling tao?” Dela Rosa said on Saturday during the sidelines of the annual alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) here.

(What state-sponsored? Who is a fool of a president that would order the murder of his own people?)

“Mga Pilipino ‘yan and to think na ang Presidente ay talagang mahal na mahal niya yung mahirap na tao, papatayin mo lang ng ganun? Gusto mo ipapatay?”

(These are Filipinos and to think that the President really loves the poor, and you’ll just kill them like that? You want to have them killed?)

The HRW said last week that the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) move to launch its preliminary examination on the thousands of deaths in the country allegedly committed under the government’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs is a “rebuke of the Philippine government’s campaign of denial and distraction seemingly designed to deflect growing evidence of extrajudicial executions that Duterte and senior government officials have incited and instigated.”

For the past 19 months of the Duterte administration, the New York-based watchdog said, journalists and international human rights organizations, have compiled “damning evidence” of police involvement in thousands of extrajudicial killings.

Duterte, in several instances, has praised and endorsed the killings of suspected drug criminals, including the killing of 32 drug suspects in Bulacan last year.

“Yung namatay daw kanina sa Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid. Maganda ‘yun. Makapatay lang tayo ng mga another 32 everyday then maybe we can reduce what ails this country (The ones who died in Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid, that is good. We could just kill another 32 everyday, then maybe we could reduce what ails this country),” Duterte said in a speech on August 16, 2017.

READ: ‘That’s good,’ says Duterte on killing of 32 Bulacan druggies

Days before he assumed the presidency, Duterte said drug addicts are better off dead because they will eventually commit crimes to sustain their addictions.

READ: Duterte wants death for drug addicts

But Dela Rosa maintained that the President has no “special instruction” to kill drug suspects and his statements are just an “encouragement” for the police and a warning for those involved in illegal drugs.

“’Yung sa pananalita ni Presidente, sinasabi niya yan, number one, to encourage the police to conduct anti-drug operation; and number two, to give a strong warning to drug personalities na mamamatay kayo pag kayo ay lumaban. Tinatakot ni Presidente yan,” he said.

(The President only say those statements to, number one, to encourage the police to conduct anti-drug operation; and number two, to give a strong warning to drug personalities that many will die if you fight back. It is a threat from the President.)

“Walang special instruction si presidente [na], ‘Bato, patayin mo yang pusher na yan, patayin mo yang adik na yan, patayin mo yang drug addict na yan,’” he added.

(The President has no special instruction saying, ‘Bato, kill those pushers, addicts.’)

The PNP chief said that the police would cooperate with the ICC’s preliminary examination, and would be transparent in its dealings with the international tribunal.

He, however, noted that the PNP would not disclose tactical information that would compromise the safety of his men. /jpv

READ: Bato: PNP to cooperate with ICC probe but will not disclose tactical info