Manila mayor defends cops over massacre suspect’s death

 MANILA, Philippines - Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim defended yesterday the Manila Police District (MPD) after Commission on Human Rights chair Etta Rosales questioned why a massacre suspect was shot dead while in police custody.

Rosales was reacting to the death of Nestor Delizalde, a barangay watchman who confessed to killing three women in their home in Sta. Cruz, Manila recently. He was shot dead inside a police van by Police Officer 3 Michael Pastor of the District Police Intelligence Operations Unit two days following his arrest after allegedly trying to grab the gun of one of his escorts.

Lim said that as soon as he received a report on Delizalde’s death, he ordered MPD director Chief Superintendent Alex Gutierrez to have the matter investigated and submit a report to him.

“There must a presumption of regularity. If the life of the operative was put in danger then he has to defend himself. The suspect was dangerous. He killed three. Slit the neck of the victims. What is it to him to kill a policeman?” Lim said.

Rosales earlier said that the incidents of suspects grabbing the guns of policemen in Manila happen too often. She said this means that the policemen are either incompetent or negligent, and they failed to protect the rights of the accused.

Rosales was reportedly quoted as saying “that suspects have human rights too,” and stressed the need to “investigate first before condemning.”

Lim, however, asked why the CHR did not bother to react when a Manila policeman was killed on duty by motorcycle-riding men. He said the CHR apparently has a one-sided understanding of what human rights are all about.

“What should have more protection? The human rights of criminals or human rights of good citizens? Just like all laws, human rights should also apply to all,” he said.