President Duterte clarified yesterday that he did not promise to protect abusive cops but only those who are doing their duties even as he warned the Philippine National Police (PNP) that it should stop the practice of planting evidence on suspects to bolster their cases.

The President said he despises police officers who abuse their authority especially those who plant evidence like illegal drugs.

Duterte said that while he is keen on protecting the police who are doing their duty, he cannot, however, turn a blind eye on those who are abusing their authority.

“Let us be clear on this, I said I will protect those who are doing their duty. I never promised to protect those who are supposedly engaged in doing their duty but committing a crime in the process; abuses. That cannot be done,” Duterte said in his speech in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

“Pero ‘yung mga abusadong pulis, ‘yung mga pulis na nag-kidnap, tapos pag kidnap, meron pang deed of sale ‘yung mga biktima, sabi ko ‘yan pinatungan ko nga ng ulo (But for the abusive cops, the cops who kidnap people and make their victims a deed of sale, I put a bounty on their heads),” Duterte said.

“P2 million diyan silang lahat (P2 million for each of them). For those policemen who have committed a crime of gun-for-hire or kidnapping lalo na (especially),” he added.

Duterte revealed that he knows there are also police officers who plant evidence.

“Itong sa drugs, maraming laro dito (In the illegal drug trade, there are many ways practices here)–planting of evidence. Tapos maghingi ng pera, kung wala kang pera, ang deed of sale sa bahay mo nandiyan na pirmahan mo lang. Ito ‘yung dapat patayin (Then they will ask for money. If you don’t have money, all you need to do is to sign the deed of sale of your house. These are the ones who needs to be killed),” the President said.

“Sabi ko sa pulis, ‘Patayin ninyo, kung hindi, kayo ang papatayin ko.’ ‘Yan ang simpleng istorya sa buhay natin (I told the police, ‘Kill them or else you’re the ones I will kill.’ That’s the simple story of our lives),” Duterte added.

Duterte also explained how he would ‘help’ the police officers who will be jailed while doing their duty, particularly while implementing his all-out drug war.

“When I said, ‘I will help you,’ it does not really say na (that I will be) springing them out of jail. I will provide for their lawyers. Dapat lang, nagta-trabaho sila sa gobyerno, tapos hayaan mo (I should do that because they are working for the government. I should not let them by themselves),” he said.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos

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