Duterte: Government will pursue cases vs Caloocan cops

MANILA, Philippines — Amid outrage at the deaths of two teenagers at the hands of Caloocan City police, President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday stressed the government will pursue cases against the cops involved.

"I'm sorry, but I will pursue the case against policemen and, if need be, they will go to jail," the president said at the anniversary celebration of the Social Security System.

Duterte, known for this tough stand on drugs and criminality, said has repeatedly said he will protect police officers charged for following his orders and doing their jobs.

"[Extrajudicial killings], of course we do not like it.If you are into it, I'll see to it you will go to jail.Baka ako pa babaril sa iyo," the president said.

He stressed that he did not order security forces to kill "defenseless persons", a statement he also made in the wake of the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Reyes in a police operation in August. 

Delos Reyes was killed the same week that similar "One Time, Big Time" operations killed around 80 drug suspects across Luzon. The president, that week, praised police for killing 32 drug suspects in Bulacan province.

"Wala akong inutos na patayin mo yung bata o matanda and even the enemy on bended knees," the president said Wednesday.

The president's statement was in contrast to previous remarks in which he threatened to kill suspected criminals, whom he did not consider to be part of humanity.

In May 2015, he said that the secret to his alleged success in making Davao City peaceful was his administration's unwavering stand against crimes.

He said that he had no problem killing people committing irregularities in his former city.

"Kill them all," the former mayor of Davao City said.

Duterte also suggested planting evidence and guns at crime scenes to show that drug suspects offered violence resistance, which would justify their deaths.

“I said, O sir, if they are there, destroy them also. Especially if they put up a good fight. O ‘pag walang baril, walang – bigyan mo ng baril," Duterte said in a speech in December last year.

The president also said in the past that cops should make suspects fight back.

“Eh, ako lang naman ang harap-harap na mag-utos patayin mo yang p***** inang 'yan. Sino pa bang iba? Kung hindi ko kayang ako na mismong p***** ina patayin mo yan. Pagkatapos lumaban. Pagkatapos lumaban,” he said in a speech before jail officers.

He then said: “Dito is pagkalumaban. Ngayon, kung ayaw lumaban, di palabanin mo.”

'Criminals are not human'

The president also said that criminals were not part of humanity.

“When you kill criminals that is not a crime against humanity. The criminals have no humanity. God damn it,” the president told reporters during the groundbreaking of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in March this year.

The president has also regularly promised to shield cops from criminal liability although he also warned them against committing abuses.

"Do your duty, and I will protect you. Do not abuse, do not commit crime not the extrajudicial killings pictured by the human rights just leave them alone,” said the president early last month.

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The president said that he did not give the police an order to kill suspects already begging for their lives. He clarified that cops should kill suspects only when they offered violent resistance and endangered their safety.

The chief executive said that issuing threats to criminals is natural for a leader of a nation. He added that he could defend those pronouncements even before Jesus Christ.