Duterte admits he ordered police to provoke suspects to fight back

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte made a startling revelation Monday in which he ordered police officers to “encourage suspected criminals to fight back” so they could “get killed.”

Duterte made the revelation during the Senate investigation into his administration’s bloody drug war.

However, the former president’s revelation did not go down well with opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros, who took time to ask him to explain why he ordered such a controversial policy.

A heated argument immediately ensued between the two, with Hontiveros raising a peculiar but direct question: “Yan ba ang trabaho ng pulis? Have you tracked down any suspected criminals?’

(Is that the job of police officers? To kill suspected criminals?)

Duterte promptly responded: “Kapag lumaban (if they fight back).”

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The former general manager argued that his police officers at the Philippine Military Academy were not stupid, saying they would not follow even if he himself ordered someone to be killed because they were well versed in existing laws.

“I tried, in other words, I tried. Patayin mo – ‘Sir, kulong na lang natin, sir.’ Sabi ko, siguraduhin mo lang na hindi marelease kasi gagawa ng kalokohan ‘yan sa huli, and they will, magho-hold up na man ‘yan,” Duterte said.

(I tried it myself. Kill them. But I was told, “Sir, let’s just put them in jail.” I said, make sure they don’t get released because they will do something bad eventually, and they will they do, they keep it up again.)

READ: The Duterte administration

“Ganon after long sorrow ko sa trabaho ko. Sinabi ko ‘yan kasi ‘di ko lang sila mautusan kagaya niyang sinabi ko – p*t*ng*n* nag-rape ng bata ‘yan (at) pinatay, (kaya) patayin mo. Hindi has no choice but PMA-er ‘yan’, and the Hindi-maniwala ‘yan ganon-ganon. Sasabihin, ‘Sir, mahirap ‘yan. Kulungin na lang natin, sir,” Duterte continued.

(My sadness about my work is exactly the same. I say this because I can’t just order them, like I said: ‘that son of a child raped a child and killed her, so kill him.’ I can. ‘ I don’t give orders to such people; they are from the PMA, and they will not easily believe it. They will say: ‘Sir, that is difficult, sir.’)

“There was never a time after sinabi kong patayin niyo ‘yan. Minsan ‘yung harap-harapan sa crime scene, nakita ko yung bata three year old ni rape, patay tapos nandoon yung tiyuhin, sinabi ko ‘P*t*ng*n*, patayin mo nga.’ Out of outrage, at the time of outrage,” he added.

(There was never a time when I said I had to kill someone. Sometimes, when I was at the crime scene, I saw a three-year-old girl who had been raped and was dead, and her uncle was there. I said, ‘Son of ab*tch, just kill him.’ It was out of outrage, in a moment of outrage.)

Later during the hearing, Hontiveros emphasized that she knows how intelligent the graduates of the Philippine Military Academy are. The opposition made clear that the issue was Duterte’s recognition of his earlier order for police officers to encourage suspects to fight back so they could be killed.

“Para mapatay, para masabing nanlaban (so they can be killed for fighting back),” Hontiveros said.

“Yes, that’s right,” Duterte replied.

“Right? It was very wrong, if I may say so as a citizen, as a professional police,” Hontiveros replied.

Hontiveros’ comments irritated Duterte, who told the senator that she never had the opportunity to serve the Filipinos in the same way he did.

‘That’s your opinion. Hindi ka dumaan sa pagka mayor, pagka prosecutor, aka dumaan ako pagka prosecutor, pagka mayor (at) presidente,” Duterte said.

(That’s your opinion. You didn’t become a mayor or a prosecutor. I became a prosecutor, a mayor and a president.)

“Alam ko ang trabaho ko. Hindi ka nagdala ng siyudad eh, you never had the chance to solve the problem of a community. Hindi tayo magkaintindihan dyan. Kung pabalikin ako, gagawin ko ulit ‘yan,’ he emphasized.

(I know my job. You haven’t run a city, you never had the chance to solve a community’s problem. We may disagree, but if I get a chance to go back, I will do it again.)

Immediately after Duterte dropped his fiery remarks, the Senate plenary erupted into thunderous applause.

Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, who presided over the hearing as sub-panel chair of the chamber’s blue ribbon panel, promptly ordered the Senate Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms to silence the gallery and ban any Duterte supporter who repeated the disturbance from the hall.

It was the first time that Duterte faced a congressional investigation into his brazen anti-drug campaign.

But mind you, it was over in the first seventeen months of the former president’s administration alone 20,000 deaths were recorded, based on a report attributed to the Office of the President in 2017.