Suspected Pateros 'death squad' member arrested —local police chief

A suspected member of a death squad allegedly operating in Pateros has been arrested by the local police.

"May mga individual na nakasuhan na. Actually may nahuli na nga kaming isa eh," Superintendent Joel Villanueva, Pateros police chief, said in a report by Emil Sumangil on SONA on Friday.

Villanueva added that the local police has been closely coordinating with barangay security teams in patrolling all corners of Pateros.

A Reuters report said that more than 60 drug suspects have been killed by a suspected death squad called "Bonnet Gang" in Pateros in the past eight months, since the Duterte administration launched its war on drugs.

Pateros Mayor Ike Ponce, who strongly opposed the violent war against illegal drugs, has put up banners around Pateros to denounce the gang.

Extrajudicial killings are "not the right process to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs," read the banners. "We value human life and adhere to the rule of law."

Ponce has blamed the alleged death squad for all of the vigilante-style killings in Pateros.

The mayor said that several Pateros residents believed that the "Bonnet Gang" is run by policemen.

"Why? Because from day one ... we have not arrested anyone," he said. "That is why people are thinking they are police officers." —Anna Felicia Bajo/ALG, GMA News