Solon: Police abuses should not be perceived as orders from Duterte

Abuses of policemen should not be perceived as orders coming from President Rodrigo Duterte himself, Surigao Del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers said Tuesday.

Barbers made the remark after critics of President Rodrigo Duterte pinned the blame over the killing of Sonya and Frank Anthony Gregorio by Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca on him, supposedly after his "shoot-to-kill orders" embolden policemen to use deadly force with impunity.

"Yung abuses of law enforcers, abuses of soldiers, should not be perceived to be an order coming from the President, thereby these people doing such crimes with impunity. Dapat hindi yun ganun kasi hindi naman inutos ng Pangulo yan," Barbers told reporters in a virtual interview.

Detractors of the President, including the House Makabayan Bloc, noted that the Tarlac shooting was not an isolated case but instead born out of the "systematic and chronic abuse of power in the police and military."

"The Duterte administration's legacy is creating monsters that recklessly use their guns, points and shoots it at whoever is in their way towards claiming and abusing power," said ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro.

"This is not an isolated incident. There is systematic and chronic abuse of power in the police and military that the Duterte administration cannot deny especially when 'shoot-to-kill orders come straight from the mouth of the commander-in-chief," she added.

But instead of looking at it that way, Barbers said the mental and emotional fitness of the perpetrator should be considered.

"Ang dapat talagang tingnan, kung qualified or mentally, emotionally fit ba yung mga officers natin o yung mga law enforcers natin na humahawak ng mga armas. Dahil yang mga yan, kapag medyo, alam mo na nag snap ng kaunti ang kanilang mental dyan, nakakasakit, minsan nakakapatay pa," he said.

"So dapat ay dun tutukan at huwag isisi sa ating Pangulo," he added.

Following the Tarlac shooting, there have been renewed calls to revive the death penalty, of which Barbers himself is among the advocates.

The House of Representatives passed the death penalty bill during the 17th Congress, although it did not get the same approval in the Senate.

Barbers hoped that both the Senate and the House could work on passing the death penalty bill before the 18th Congress ends.

"Mukhang uusad na ito ngayon at nagsalita naman ang ating Speaker, nagsalita na ang ibang miyembro ng Senado at sinabi nga nila na suportahan ang panawagan ng ating Pangulo," he said.

"Suportahan ang panawagan ng ating kababayan na ibalik itong death penalty. Lalong lalo na dito sa mga crimes, dito sa sinasabing kahindik-hindik na mga krimen," he added. — DVM, GMA News