‘TAMA SIYA’

Duterte: Marcos correct to say rigid law enforcement leads to abuses

Former President Rodrigo Duterte has agreed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s recent remarks that some abuses have been committed under the previous administration due to a focus on law enforcement.

In a radio interview, Duterte was asked to comment on Marcos' reply to a question on the alleged abuses during a forum in Washington.

“Yes, that was attributed allegedly made by the President. I am not sure if he was quoted in the complete context of the statement. I am sure that it was not intended to criticize me because he knows how hard it is to be President, especially with the serious problem right now,” Duterte said.

"You know what am I supposed to do. I cannot be libertarian, I can only be a stoic human being dedicated to enforce the law because you are the implementors, you are the enforcers,” he added.

He said Marcos was correct when he made the statement.

“Tama siya na along the way in the enforcement of the law, a rigid attitude towards the enforcement of the law, abuses will be committed. Ngayon sabihin ko, I’ll go further. Not only abuses, sometimes killing unnecessarily,” Duterte said.

“Along the way collateral damage marami yan, those never intended I am sure by the law enforcement agency. Meron yang collateral damage in a shootout, inside the house of the ," he added.

At a forum organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Marcos on Thursday last week said there had been abuses committed during the "previous administration" in the war on illegal drugs, which he said focused too much on law enforcement.

"In my view what had happened in the previous administration is that we focused very much on enforcement. And because of that, it could be said that there are abuses by certain elements in the government and that has caused some concern with many, in many quarters about the human rights situation in the Philippines,” Marcos said.

“Well, I cannot speak to what my predecessor had in mind and what his idea was. But what I can speak is to the policy that we have undertaken and that I said the drug war continues to be at the source of many—much criminality in the Philippines,” he added.

He said that syndicates had grown "stronger, wealthier, more influential, worryingly so." —NB, GMA Integrated News