Policemen committing illegal activities will be dealt severely by President Duterte, Malacañang assured yesterday amid reports of alleged abuses in the anti-drug operations.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said while the President promises protection for policemen performing their duty, he will not tolerate abusive and corrupt cops.
“The proceedings are running on parallel tracks – one is to address apparent existence of rouge cops; on the other hand, as the President has said, he continues to protect their efforts assuming regularity,” Abella said during a Palace news conference.
“But it’s running on parallel tracks and the President has said he will deal quite severely with those who are erring,” he added.
Senator Panfilo Lacson recently called for a strict monitoring of government operations against illegal drugs following complaints of alleged excesses by some policemen.
In a Senate hearing into the kidnap-slay of a Korean businessman, Lacson said there have been other cases of alleged extortion activities by rogue policemen in the guise of the anti-drug efforts. He even presented video showing a police team planting illegal drugs to extort money from the victim.
The national police has faced criticisms over the death of the South Korean inside its main headquarters in Quezon City. Some groups have blamed the President for creating a culture of impunity after promising to protect police combatting illegal drugs.
Abella said the President has already expressed “displeasure” over the kidnap-slay of the Korean businessmen and promised to bring to justice the culprits.
Asked why the President backed up the policemen implicated in the murder of a Leyte town mayor while denouncing those behind the death of the South Korean, Abella reiterated the President’s two tracks on the matter.
“The President has declared that he definitely will back up police operations. However, he has also allowed the due process,” he said.
“He’s pursuing two track things. One is he supports the police operations. Secondly, he will also not allow those who are rogue to go undealt with,” he added. (GENALYN KABILING)