President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the decision of the Mindanao police to serve the search warrant against Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog in the dead of the night in his family compound on July 30.
Ozamiz Police Chief Jovie Espenido and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 10 (CIDG) were criticized for serving the search warrant at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning which was similar to time the search warrant was served to Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa in his jail cell last November. Both police teams also cut off the power and claimed that their targets died because they fought back.
“You know, ‘yang search warrant, ‘yang binibira nila kay ano, that is really for convenience. Because a warrant of arrest can really be served any time of the day or night. Iyong sabi, preferably on daytime, but kung ang operation ng shabu is not carried on during daytime because there is light, the police can go there any time convenient for them to arrest,” said Duterte in speech at the Bureau of Internal Revenue last Wednesday (August 2).
“I will stand by the police there. Wala naman nagta-transaction, naga-unload ng shabu ng araw. In public view? That’s crazy. Huwag kayong sumunod diyan. I will answer for it. I will say I ordered it. Bakit inano ‘yung pulis? Who would be stupid enough to carry on a shabu business daylight? It’d be crazy,” he added. ““Di pagka-ganun, huwag ka na lang magtrabaho, tulog na lang kayo. You must at least give them the benefit of doubt.”
Duterte also justified the police action in Ozamiz where Parojinog and 16 others, including his wife and brother, were killed.
“At the first sign of violence, pagka ganun patayin mo. Tama man sinabi ni ano, “I would rather see dead criminals than…”, putang ina may pamilya rin ito. Ito, sabihin mo, may pamilya ‘yung pinatay, eh ‘yung mga pulis pala, wala?” he said.
Duterte also attacked the Commission on Human Rights for its default stand to defend the rights of criminals while pinning the blame on the police.
“Iyan ang mahirap diyan because they look at criminals as… itong mga human rights guys, they look at criminals as if they are saints. Para bang walang kasalanan na summary na pinatay. Gago nitong sa… Kaya masakit ang salita ko sa kanila. Eh bobo eh. Kung hindi ka — kung ganun ka ka-bobo, paano mo maintindihan trabaho ng pulis, trabaho ko?” he said.
