“I cannot be God and control everything.”
President Duterte has admitted this and conceded that the alleged spate of vigilante killings of drug suspects is beyond his control.
For now, the President affirmed that his priority is to “intimidate and strike fear in the hearts of criminals” and ensure the safety and protection of law-abiding citizens in the country.
In a related development, a high-ranking Church official said yesterday that due process should be given not only to suspected drug suspects but also to cops who are being linked to extrajudicial killings (EJK) as well.
Naval Bishop Filomeno Bactol said that while he is against the reported killings of suspected drug traffickers at the hands of authorities without any due process, he also opposed the outright condemnation of policemen being linked to EJK.
The Senate committees on justice and human rights and public order and dangerous drugs is also set to release its committee report on its investigation into the recent spate of extrajudicial killings this week.
Vigilante killings
“Now if the vigilantes would take over, you know I cannot control it. I cannot be God and control everything. Okay, you just kill these guys or you wait for the courts to do that,” President Duterte said in an interview with Al Jazeera over the weekend.
“If the criminals there are killed by the thousands, that’s not my problem. My problem is how to take care of the law abiding, God-fearing young persons of this Republic because they are our resources,” he added.
The President also said he was “not worried” about threats to remove him from power whether by impeachment or international trial for alleged summary executions in the country. He insisted that he has committed no crime in threatening to kill drug suspects in the country.
“You destroy my country, I’ll kill you. And it’s a legitimate thing,” he said. “If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interests of the next generation.”
The President, however, admitted that it was bad that some innocent people have been killed amid the intensified campaign against drugs. He promised that the alleged extrajudicial killings would be investigated but described the victims as “collateral damage.”
“This is the law of my land. Here is a policeman, here is a gangster. He’s armed with an M-16 (assault rifle), the gangster only with a pistol. But when they meet they exchange fire. With the policeman with his M-16 there’s one burst and he hits 1,000 people there and they die. There’s no criminal liability,” he said.
Despite his crackdown on drugs, the President affirmed that he still believes in the country’s justice system. “Right now, I still believe in the system because I will guarantee this time that the law this time is obeyed,” he said.
But Duterte brushed aside the concerns raised by human rights groups on alleged abuses in the drug crackdown.
“I don’t care about what the human rights guys say. I have the duty to preserve the generation. If it involves human rights, I don’t give a shit,” he said.
“I have to strike fear because the enemies of the state are out there to destroy our children,” he added.
Cops deserve due process
Bishop Bactol said law enforcers, if proven to have killed in self-defense, do not deserve condemnation.
“We have to give chance to the people who are being caught, being apprehended, and a similar chance to those who are doing the apprehension,” Bactol said in an article posted at the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
”It would be good if the people [apprehended] will be given the chance to say something but [it is a] fact that when they (people being apprehended) pull the gun, the police officers are also trying to defend themselves,” he added.
Based on data from the Philippine National Police since July, a total of 1,645 drug suspects have been killed in its operations while another 1,967 drug-related deaths are still under investigation.
Bactol said some of these killing incidents may not have been perpetrated by authorities.
“For all we know, there are other factors like vendetta (from other rival drug syndicates),” Bactol said.
Bactol urged the faithful to continue to pray to prevent further bloodshed in the government’s war against illegal drugs.
“If possible there will be no killing, but since killing could not be avoided, all we could do is pray,” Bactol said.
Committee report
Senator Richard Gordon, who replaced Sen. Leila de Lima as chair of the justice and human rights panel, said they were able to assemble sufficient information from the hearings conducted to be able to submit a report with recommendations that Congress can adopt into legislation.
Last Thursday, Oct. 13, Gordon terminated the hearings on the extrajudicial killings, which de Lima has sought in light of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against illegal drugs, saying the Senate panel found no proof of a state-sanctioned killings vis-à-vis the administration’s war on drugs.
”We are terminating the investigation as far as recent and rampant killings are concerned. We already learned enough to enable us to craft proposed measures that would improve law enforcement procedures in the country,” Gordon said.
”If it’s possible, we will submit it by Monday or if you allow us some leeway, within the week,” the senator said.
Rigid deadline
Gordon said that among the recommendations of the committee would be to set a rigid deadline for policemen in investigating crimes within their jurisdiction.
Congress, he said, should craft a law that would ensure law enforcement authorities will really perform their duties with dispatch to assure public safety.
”There should be immediate action. Our police should be able to finish their investigation within three days, and if there are policemen involved, suspend or dismiss them outright.
”We will also recommend the immediate filing of criminal cases against policemen involved before the Department of Justice (DOJ). The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) should also be compelled to conduct quick investigations although they can only file administrative cases against erring policemen,” Gordon said.
As to the chiefs of police or higher-ranking officers in-charge of police stations, provinces or regions, Gordon said the committee will also recommend amendments to existing laws so that they could be sanctioned should they be remiss in their duties.
“You commit crime by omission or commission. The chiefs should know their job. When you omit to do your duty, that’s a crime. If you’re not able to solve the crimes within your precincts or jurisdiction, you should be suspended or dismissed,” he said.
The senator also added part of the recommendation would be to require the PNP to regularly submit to both Houses of Congress a list of index crimes across the country which would serve as reference for creating proposed legislation.
He will also propose allocating budget for the PNP to procure body cameras that could be used by policemen responding to crime alerts or conducting police operations to provide visual documentation.
Gordon said he would also push for the enactment of a law requiring bigger plate numbers for motorcycles to take a bite out of crime.
“Motorcycle plate numbers should be bigger so it would be easy to spot. When used by a motor-cycle riding tandems to commit crime, they can easily be seen and witnesses would be able to easily point to the suspects,” he explained.
Rule of law
Gordon said the outcome of the hearings only validated that the “rule of law” is still working in the nation.
”It is not perfect but you can see that the branches of government are working. There is a rule of law, the Rule Book has not been thrown out of the window,” Gordon said.
He is also said the hearings did not show proof that the President is linked to the so-called summary killings nor to the alleged Davao death squad.
”There is no proof to show that there is a sustained systematic policy of state-sponsored killings. The President is motivated to kill the use of illegal drugs because he really means to eradicate illegal drugs. But I don’t think he is really going to push anybody and say kill,” he added.
Gordon also said the committee is mulling filing perjury cases against whistleblower Edgar Matobato, who pointed to Duterte as the mastermind of the Davao death squad and who is supposedly responsible for the number of vigilante killings in Davao city where he was the mayor.
The justice committee no longer called back Matobato to testify before the Senate last Thursday. Gordon called him “damaged goods” saying he had many inconsistencies in his testimony before the Senate.
Legalize marijuana?
Meanwhile, the President said he is amenable to the proposed legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in the country.
Duterte said he has “no problem” with allowing medical marijuana as long as it gets the proper certification from the country’s food and drug authorities.
“Yes, but that is a very long process. It has to be something like being officially certified by the Food and Drugs (Administration) of the Philippines, and it must have this qualifying you know, activity where it is being used to find out if it’s really medicinal or it can do something good for the body,” Duterte said in an interview with Al-Jazeera over the weekend.
“If it is certified by the government that it’s good, fine. No problem,” he added.
Duterte’s latest position, however, was in contrast to the opinion of the Department of Health (DOH), which claimed the legalization of such drug was no longer necessary.
The post President Admits He Cannot Be God, Vigilante Killings Beyond His Control appeared first on Manila Bulletin.
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