Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Thursday, March 11, sidestepped questions about the push for internal cleansing of the Philippine National Police (PNP) following several incidents wherein the police purportedly abused their power.
Over the past weeks, reports of alleged police abuse and brutality surfaced over social media and news websites. This prompted human rights advocates and progressive rights groups to call for a cleansing of the PNP.
However, Roque maintained that under International Human Rights law, the police and military troopers can use their weapons if their lives are at stake. The same law states that law enforcement officers can only use the necessary force to subdue and mitigate aggression or violence inflicted on them.
“Hindi naman bawal sa parte ng mga alagad ng batas na gumamit ng puwersa basta merong necessity at proportionality. So kung sila po‘y namaril at nakapatay na wala pong necessity at proportionality, malilitis po sila para sa krimen na murder (Law enforcement is not prohibited to use force if there is necessity and proportionality. If they killed without necessity and proportionality, they will be tried for murder),” he said.
The Palace official stressed that President Duterte already made clear his stance on this.
“Sinabi ng presidente ‘yan—sagot ko kayo kapulisan, kasundaluhan kung talagang tama ang ginawa ninyo na gumamit kayo ng pwersa kasi merong banta sa buhay n’yo pero kung wala, paparusahan kayo. Iyan po ang mensahe ng president bilang isang abogado at isang dating piskal (The President already said that—I have your back, police and the military if you used force because your lives are at stake but if not, you will be punished. That’s the message of the president as a lawyer and former fiscal).”
On Sunday, March 7, separate police raids led to the deaths of nine activists who worked in progressive groups involved in labor rights and human rights advocacies in the Calabarzon region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon provinces). Six others were arrested.
Initial investigations said the victims were unarmed, but the police insisted that there were threats to those serving the search warrant.
This is not the only police encounter in recent weeks that resulted in deaths.
In February, a misencounter between the PNP and members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) resulted to the deaths of five people.
Last Monday, March 8, Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino was reportedly killed in a shootout with the police.
Also this week, a video of a February 10 incident between a police and a suspected drug trader surfaced on social media.
In the video, the cop, identified as Police Corporal Benzon Gonzales, fired the gun three times before placing it beside the body of the alleged drug suspect.
Roque said the incident needs to be investigated and admitted that if there’s already a video, it will be hard to dispute what happened.
“Kung iyang video po na yan ma-authenticate masisibak po iyong pulis na ‘yan at malilitis din dahil iyong pagpa-plant po ng ebidensya isang krimen din. So hayaan nating umusad ang proseso. Mabuti na nga po meron video. Ang video nga po hindi magsisinungaling (If that video is authenticated, that police will be dismissed and will face the law because planting evidence is also a crime. Let us wait for the process to move. It’s a good thing that there’s a video. The video will not lie),” the spokesman added.