Duterte apologizes over South Korean's death

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte apologized on Thursday for the abduction and killing of a South Korean businessman allegedly committed by scalawag policemen on Thursday, his first reaction to a public scandal that has engulfed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and threatens to undermine further the credibility of his intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte, speaking before an audience that included several South Korean dignitaries who attended the switch-on ceremony of a coal plant in Sarangani province, vowed in a speech that those responsible would be brought to justice. He promised at one point that he would see to it that the perpetrators were “sentenced to the maximum.”

“I apologize for the death of your compatriot. We are very sorry that it had to happen. But I assure you that those responsible are known to us already. And they will have to go to prison. And I will see to it that they are sentenced to the maximum,” the chief executive said.

"I am very sorry for that sordid incident. But I can assure you I will see to it. Better if they escaped from prison. I'll send their heads to you,” Duterte, who is known for his fiery and oftentimes sensational remarks, said.

The president also remarked that if the country had death penalty he would execute those who would be found guilty.

Duterte said, “You give that power (death penalty) back to me again, I'll execute them, make them curtains. I'll hang them in one day, 20 of them, 20 a day.”

Duterted also warned the police handling the case against helping their fellow officers.

“T*** i** kayong mga pulis. Bantay kayo. Hindi ko kayo papalusutin. You will suffer. Maybe I can send your heads to South Korea,” Duterte said in his characteristic invective-laced language.

This is the first time that the president has publicly reacted to the controversy currently surrounding the PNP which is the lead agency in the president’s war on drugs.

Duterte recently turned down PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa’s offer to resign, saying that the country’s top cop still has his “complete trust.”

The kidnapping of South Korean Jee Ick-Joo  in October 2016 and his subsequent killing inside Camp Crame several meters away from Dela Rosa’s office and official residence have cast doubt on the “Oplan Tokhang” drug campaign of the PNP. It is alleged that the victim, with his househelp, was taken from his home in Pampanga under the guise of this anti-drug operation.

The incident has sowed fear among South Koreans in the country. The South Korean foreign ministry has already demanded that the perpetrators of this act be immediately brought to justice. The Senate has also started its investigation into this incident

The issue on the South Korean’s kidnapping and killing is just one of a string of controversies surrounding the PNP since it launched its aggressive anti-drug campaign. Several policemen are accused of killing  Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. in his prison cell. The police are also suspected to have committed some of the “extrajudicial” killings in the country.