Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said on Monday, November 4, that he got "worried" when he found out that former President Rodrigo Duterte taught in a police academy and instructed aspiring police officers questionable practices.
"That is now a professor of a fresh police officer...if they teach that way that you highlight first what is questionable, sabihin na nating illegal, you highlight what is illegal, what should not be done that you do, you do what should not be done, then the last 10 minutes of the lecture you say that this will all be legal if it's in self-defense," he said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel.
During the Senate drug war probe, Duterte recalled that when he was a prosecutor, teaching at the police academy, he taught them that if a suspect has a gun and they feel like their life is in danger they should shoot the suspect.
"Barilin mo sa ulo, patayin mo, at least one less criminal in the community. Yun ang utos ko when I was a fiscal and I was a professor doon sa police academy (Shoot them in the head, kill them, at least one less criminal in the community. That was what I said when I was a fiscal and professor in the police academy)," he said.
"No quarters given, no quarters asked," he added.
Pimentel said he's curious as to who screens those who get access as professors to fresh police officers.
"They have to be screened," he said.
"Somebody should be screening also the professors teaching our police officers, delikado yun eh (that's dangerous)," he added.
The senator was also bothered by this considering that Duterte had admitted telling cops to encourage suspects to fight back so that they could be killed.
"Ang sinabi ko ganito: 'prangkahan tayo, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns'...encourage them lumaban pagka lumaban patayin ninyo para matapos na ang problema ko sa syudad ko (This is what I said: 'I'll be frank, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns'...encourage them to fight and when they do, kill them so that the problems in my city would end)," Duterte said during the hearing.
Pimentel mentioned this among the revelations and information that Duterte made during the Senate probe's first hearing.
Durterte also admitted during the hearing that he had a death squad, not composed of policemen, but gangsters.
"Mayroon akong death squad, pito, pero di yang mga pulis, sila rin yung mga gangster. Yung isang gangster utusan ko, patayin ko yan, kung hindi mo patayin 'yan, patayin kita ngayon (I have a death squad, composed of seven, but they're not policemen, but of gangsters. One gangster I ordered, kill him, if you don't kill him, I'll kill you now)," Duterte added.