President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the removal of all checkpoints in
the country, especially if there is no need to put them up.
“Except really if it is necessary, only if it is necessary, only if there’s specific reason to do it, I am ordering all checkpoints dismantled… And that is for the entire country,” Duterte declared Saturday, October 29 in a speech at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City.
He graced the launching of the Comprehensive Reform and Development Agenda for ARMM and other conflict affected areas in regions 9, 10 and 12.
The president explained checkpoints should only be conducted when there is a purpose, such as there is “probability or A1 information” that a specific suspect or suspects will pass through a certain area.
“Kung may purpose kayo. ‘Pag wala, huwag kayong mag-checkpoint, pampagulo lang ng buhay ng Pilipino iyan (Unless you have a purpose. If none, don’t set up a checkpoint, it will only disrupt Filipinos’ lives),” the President said.
Duterte’s directive comes a day after Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao and nine of his men were killed at a police checkpoint in Barangay Balatukan, Makilala, Cotabato.
Police at the checkpoint flagged down the mayor’s convoy based on reports the group would transport illegal drugs to Maguindanao and Cotabato, but the convoy failed to stop and instead engaged the authorities in a gunfight.
Dimaukom was earlier tagged by the president as a narco-politician.
The checkpoints were set up upon the president’s declaration placing the entire country under a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence following the deadly night market bombing in Davao City that killed 15 people and injured at least 69.
The post No More Unnecessary Checkpoints, Duterte Orders appeared first on Manila Bulletin.
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