2 killings don’t make a policy – Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Two killings do not a policy make.

President Duterte made this clear yesterday to debunk allegations that killing of drug offenders and criminals has become an official policy of his administration.

At the Senate, his police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa made a tearful plea to critics and to the public not to jump to conclusions and accuse the Philippine National Police (PNP) of institutionalizing extrajudicial killings.

Duterte was reacting to the outrage over the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos and 19-year Carl Angelo Arnaiz.

“Do you think two killings, even if it’s illegal, would make a policy?” Duterte said in a media briefing after attending the awarding ceremonies for the Outstanding Filipinos for 2017 sponsored by the Metrobank Foundation Inc. at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

“Dalawang patay. Palagay na natin, pinatay – murder o… I ask Hontiveros, ‘Is that already a policy? Is that the baseline of a policy?’ Paka-bobo naman niya,” he said, addressing Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Hontiveros grilled Dela Rosa earlier yesterday at the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on extrajudicial killings.

At Malacañang earlier in the day, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press conference there would no whitewash in Arnaiz’s case.

“There’ll be a thorough and impartial investigation,” he said. “Those who will be found responsible will be made accountable before our laws.”

Last week, Duterte met with the parents of Kian to assure them that no stone would be left unturned in the case.

He said his political foes were cashing in on the deaths, as he chastised them for even “parading” Kian’s body on EDSA. The funeral march for Kian passed through EDSA, a “gimmick” he described as “barrio politics.”

The President also defended Dela Rosa’s weeping unabashedly at the Senate hearing.

“He cried because it’s an insult to say that it’s a policy of the police to kill. There are so many criminal minds, even in the Liberal Party,” Duterte said, taking potshots at some senators belonging to the opposition party.

One of his political foes is even in jail on drug charges, he said, apparently referring to Sen. Leila de Lima. Apart from De Lima, the other LP senators are Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto was allied with the LP during the last national elections but is now with the majority.

Duterte also said the police chief was hurt by accusations and not because he caved in to pressure.

The President claimed there were numerous killings even during the previous administration and that the police then were afraid of drug syndicates.

“So, when I became President, I told the Filipino, ‘This is how widespread the drug is’,” he added.

Duterte slammed his critics for crying over the deaths of drug pushers  but did not call for justice for the victims of drug-crazed suspects, like the victims of a massacre in Bulacan.

“Why don’t I hear…I do not hear her crying or even complaining that the police are not doing enough,” he said, again apparently referring to Hontiveros, a memberof Akbayan but allied with LP.

At the Senate, Dela Rosa said he was hurt by suggestions there was an official policy to summarily kill suspects.

“We will die for the innocent people. It’s painful to say there’s a policy of widespread killings,” Dela Rosa, holding back tears, told the televised hearing.

“The President never told me to kill and kill.”

The stocky police general, nicknamed “Bato” or rock, was responding to questions about the killing of Delos Santos.

Hontiveros, a critic of Duterte, told the hearing the police “should never be used as a killing machine.”

“There’s a wide policy that allows the killings in the name of war on drugs,” Hontiveros said.

Dela Rosa said he would step down if she could prove her accusation. According to police records, more than 3,800 people, most of them drug suspects, have died in police operations since July last year. Police say most were killed resisting arrest.

Witness protection

Meanwhile, Arnaiz’s parents Carlito and Eva have been placed under the witness protection program (WPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The parents of Carl Arnaiz have been provisionally accepted in the WPP on the instruction of the justice secretary,” said DOJ Undersecretary Erickson Balmes.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), for its part, has started investigating Arnaiz’s case.

CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, head of the agency’s task force on extrajudicial killings, said they are in the process of gathering testimonies and other evidence on the case.

Earlier, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident.

Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David described Arnaiz’s death as plain and simple murder, noting the fact that it was committed by law enforcers made it more chilling. 

David thanked government agencies that helped the Arnaiz family in their quest for justice, even as he expressed hope that other victims of extrajudicial killings would also get assistance. 

“I insist that Kian and Carl are not isolated cases. The Caloocan policemen were sloppy in carrying out the extrajudicial killings. They’ve made it too obvious,” David said.

He reminded law enforcers that the fight against drugs is supposed to protect citizens, not kill them.

“Even small-time users and pushers are victims, not criminals. They can be rehabilitated, and we’re helping out in their rehabilitation. The true criminals remain at large, flooding the country with tons of illegal drugs because corruption in government agencies remains unchecked,” he said, adding he is sympathetic to policemen who remain true to their duty. – With Edu Punay, Janvic Mateo, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan, Rhodina Villanueva