Don’t castrate gov’t, Duterte tells CHR chief

DAVAO CITY—Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte likens to losing one’s manhood the criticism that putting a P5-million reward on the head of suspected car thief leader Ryan Yu, aka “Baktin” (piglet), amounts to a human rights violation.

“Do not castrate the government,” Duterte, known for his tough stance against crime, said Sunday of the criticism of Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Loretta Rosales.

“That will make us impotent to fight crime. Do not do that to my city,” he addressed Rosales on the television program, “Gikan sa Masa, para sa Masa” (From the Masses, for the Masses).

The vice mayor asked the CHR chief to show him the law he violated in ordering the “capture of a known fugitive.”

“I can debate with you to eternity, but give me the law that prevents the police from going after fugitives,” Duterte said.

He said the reward on the head of Yu, who had been linked to a series of car thefts in Mindanao, was legal because Yu was a fugitive.

“What makes it (the order) illegal?” Duterte asked. “The reward (on Baktin’s head), dead or alive, that’s legal,” he said.

From piglet to rat

Addressing Yu, Duterte said: “You’re now a hunted rat. The reward money only serves as an incentive to smoke you out of the hole where you are hiding.”

But he clarified that the reward meant police expected Baktin, who is “armed and dangerous,” to put up a fight.

“I told them to be careful because Baktin is armed and dangerous. He is armed with an MP5 machine pistol, a Super .38 cal. and a 9 mm (pistols). He will likely fight it out. Mosukol ni (He will resist). I did not tell them, ‘kill him,’ when they see him in the toilet,” Duterte said.

“That’s already understood, I cannot be forever lecturing about it because the police (officers), who studied criminal law, already know that it is murder to kill a person who peacefully surrenders and does not resist arrest,” Duterte said.

Additional P1 million

He said the difference in the reward money for getting Yu dead and capturing him alive took into consideration the risks to the would-be captor.

Duterte said he added P1 million to the reward for those who could hand over Baktin’s head to him because carrying the “corpse of a man with a price on his head” implied danger to the one carrying it.

“There is a disparity in the reward because if he surrenders peacefully, that does not involve danger. But once he is arrested and he resists and gets killed, that involves danger to the lives of the arresting officers. That’s why the reward is doubled,” he said.

“I decided to add P1 million more because once he is dead, you cannot bring the body without putting yourself in jeopardy; you’re carrying P5-million worth of baggage in your hands.”

Duterte said he felt insulted that Yu dragged the name of his son and promised to do all he could to “make the world smaller” for the fugitive.

Originally posted: 4:21 pm | Sunday, October 28th, 2012