Duterte vows to protect cops who kill criminals

In an interview over radio dzMM on Wednesday afternoon, Duterte said that he will provide legal and financial assistance to police officers who would be charged with human rights violation cases after killing criminals while on duty.

Duterte added that he would provide a lawyer and allowance to the relatives of the policeman who will be suspended due to the charges to help the family buy their needs.

He said that police officers usually face human rights violation charges after they have killed criminals in an encounter while on duty.

“Hindi ako papayag sa Davao diyan (I won’t allow that in Davao), when they are charged and they are prosecuted, eventually in court then sa fiscal, I provide a lawyer, ako ang magbibigay ng (I will give) allowance nila,” Duterte said.

“Every police who did something wrong… if at all, but duty connected or in the performance of duty, I back them up,” he added.

“Sinasabi ko sa mga pulis, pag gumawa kayo ng masama, mauuna talaga kayo (I told policemen that if they do something bad, they will be the first to go). You have to go first,” he said.

When asked if he has killed erring policemen, Duterte said: “May tatlong pulis (there are three policemen), the latest was about four months ago, patay (dead).” He, however, did not directly respond to the question if he was the one who killed the police officers.

“Patay,” he said, when asked if he killed the police.

Despite his stance in allowing policemen to kill criminals, Duterte said he does not want extrajudicial killings with the hands of suspects tied and their backs to the law enforcers.

Duterte said he would tell the policemen to ask the criminals to resist when they are arrested so that they would apparently have a reason to silence them.

Tough-talking Duterte is the recent top choice based on opinion surveys recently conducted in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He said that his style of leadership in Davao may probably lead him to the top post, but asked the public to consider other presidential candidates first before him.