PNP chief Bato to his men: Keep motorcycle-riding suspects alive

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Monday he directed his men to keep alive all motorcycle-riding suspects they will arrest.

However, Dela Rosa said he cannot assure that the operations will not be bloody.

“Keep them alive para walang problema, walang kaso. It's so foolish of us to insist on killing these suspects unnecessarily. We have been facing a lot of criticisms already bakit namin patayin ‘yan na hindi naman dapat patayin,” he said at a press conference.

The PNP chief  earlier said that riding-in-tandems will now be among their priorities after President Rodrigo Duterte removed from them the lead role in the war against illegal drugs.

“Kapag sinabi ko na uubusin namin kayo, ibig sabihin we will neutralize all of them and neutralization means hindi lang yung patay kundi pwedeng mamatay, pwedeng maaresto ng buhay,” he said.

“(Dapat) ma-diminish ‘yung kanilang capabilities to commit crimes like for example naagaw natin ‘yung motorsiklo, nakuha natin ang mga baril, ‘yung mga instruments of the crime, support system, protector kung ito ay mga protected  by barangay captains, rogue policemen, or rogue politicians,” he said.

He said he wants his men to also stay alive, as well.

“You do your job properly but meron akong additional instruction: be sure to stay alive, be sure to survive in a gunfight with these motorcycle-riding criminals,” he said.

He said if the motorcycle-riding criminals are armed and dangerous, his men should be prepared to defend themselves.

Dela Rosa said that based on the data gathered by the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, 33 percent of the deaths they recorded from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017 were perpetrated by motorcycle-riding criminals.

He said he ordered the investigators to conduct a thorough probe on the matter and go after the suspects.

“Tutukan natin ‘yun kasi sinasabi nila pulis ang involved. Whether pulis man sila or civilian talagang trabahuhin natin sila,” he said.

Asked if syndicates are involved in the riding-in-tandems, the PNP chief said there are but not they are not considered as big.

“Groups of five, four, or three, syndicate pa rin yan. Kapag two or more sindikato na ‘yan nagko-conspire to commit a crime we can classify it as a syndicate,” he said. — RSJ, GMA News