Palace: Duterte's call to arm civilians not a policy

President Rodrigo Duterte's call to arm civilians to help the police in crime-fighting operations is not a policy, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday.

Roque was referring to the President's comments made last week in a speech during the launch of the Global Coalition of Lingkod Bayan Advocacy Support Groups and Force Multipliers in Camp Crame.

The President's words went "If you have this coalition, you have a list of people who are there who can arm themselves. I will order the police if you are qualified, get a gun, and help us enforce the laws. Don't simply make an arrest tapos wala kang...ikaw ang mamatay."

The coalition consists of civilian organizations which will serve as the police’s partner in its fight against crime and police community relations programs.

"He (President) is open to the idea, but there is no final decision yet. It is speculative to discuss it since there is no policy on that yet," Roque said during a Palace briefing.

The presidential spokesperson then echoed the defense of Philippine National Police Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar that such call from the President only means that civilians under attack by criminals should be equipped enough to defend themselves. 

"We cannot allow our volunteers to be at the mercy of criminal elements and we encourage them to fight with us," Roque said.

"This is not yet a policy and will be subject to complete staff work, but the volunteers have to be able to defend themselves if their lives are under threat," he added.

The Commission on Human Rights, Vice President Leni Robredo and former police chief and Senator Panfilo Lacson and some lawmakers expressed concerns over the President's call to arms for civilians, saying that this could encourage vigilantism, if not breed abuse considering that civilians are untrained in law enforcement. —KG, GMA News