Duterte: Rogue cops will be ‘terminated’
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte issued a stern warning anew against rogue policemen, saying he won’t hesitate to “neutralize” or ” terminate” them.
In a speech in Pasay City on Tuesday night, Duterte said ordering the neutralization of so-called “scalawags” was the best way to curb criminality in the country amid his administration’s “chilling” war against illegal drugs.
“I promised you that including uniformed personnel, huwag kayong pumasok diyan sa droga, ‘yang mga murder-for-hire, kasi ipa-‘project’ ko rin kayo (don’t get involved in drugs or become murder-for-hire, because I will make you a ‘project’ too),” Duterte said.
“You can be very sure there will be a project for you and really that is to neutralize or terminate you. Kung hindi ko ganunin, walang mangyari sa ating bayan (If I will not do that, nothing will happen to our country) at this time when we are all bombarded with drugs, nobody seems to obey the law,” he said.
The President said human rights concerns usually let people evade punishment for violating laws.
“Alam mo kung bakit ngayon, the fear of the sanction of the law nawala (Do you know why the fear of the sanction of the law disappeared now)? Why? Because of human rights,” Duterte said.
“Ang pulis noon (The police before), (in the) previous administration, walang nahuli, iilan ilang buy-bust (only conducted a few buy-busts). It was not only after I became President and it were as — I demanded that all records be opened to me. Nakita ko ang Pilipino nakapila na by the thousands araw-araw diyan sa television (I saw thousands of Filipinos lined up), all contaminated, all sickly, all rendered inutile because of drugs,” he said.
Duterte made the statement days after Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde ordered the “recalibration” of “Oplan Tokhang,” following the President’s pronouncement that the campaign would be as “relentless and chilling” as when it began.
“Guided by the strategic direction set by President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address he delivered last week, we are re-calibrating our operation thrust… to sync well with the national policy,” Albayalde said during press briefing at Camp Crame.
“Thus, we can expect that our intensified campaign against illegal drugs and criminality would be absolutely relentless and chilling,” he added, referencing Duterte’s words during his third State of the Nation Address.
However, Albayalde reiterated that the police would still abide by the rule of law, even in an intensified drug war.
“But of course, we will not do away with the safeguards, ‘yong sinasabi nating pag-sunod sa rule of law,” the PNP chief said.
Duterte has been criticized for launching a war on drugs carried out by an institution long accused of rampant corruption and inefficiency.
Police said at least 4,200 Filipinos have died in the war on drugs since May 2016 after fighting back against authorities.
Rights groups, however, say the death toll is three times higher and does not include killings by alleged state-sponsored “vigilantes.” CATHERINE VALENTE
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