Former president Rodrigo Duterte told the Senate on Monday that he taught police to shoot criminals in the head should they resist and the officers feel their lives are in danger.
“Ang sinabi ko talaga sa kanila (What I emphasized to them is), 'When you are arresting a criminal, you are not supposed to request him to surrender. Rather, you have to overcome the resistance,’” he said before the Blue Ribbon Committee, the Subcommittee on the Philippine War on Illegal Drugs.
“‘Pag ayaw, it's the duty of the police is to overcome the resistance kung ayaw mag-surrender. At kung may baril, at kung tingin mo,’ ang sabi ko sa pulis doon, ‘mamamatay ka, barilin mo. Barilin mo sa ulo. Patayin mo, at least one less criminal in the community.’ ‘Yun ang utos ko,” he recounted his orders as a professor in a police academy in Davao.
(If they don’t want to surrender, it’s the duty of the police to overcome the resistance. And if they have a gun, and if you think you’ll die, shoot them. Shoot them in the head. Kill them, at least there will be one less criminal in the community.’ Those were my orders.)
He reasoned that self-preservation is “the first law of nature” and recognized by the law as self-defense. He however claimed that he had told authorities not to abuse their power.
“Hindi ko talaga pinayagan ‘yang abuso ng pulis, o sundalo kailanman (I never tolerated abuse from policemen and soldiers),” Duterte said.
“No quarters given, no quarters asked,” the former chief executive said, the expression meaning no pity or mercy shown. “‘Repel the aggression only in self-defense. do not make orphans of your children and widows of your wives.’ I don't want that in my conscience as mayor and President.”
According to the Human Rights Watch, Duterte’s War on Drugs yielded a death toll of over 12,000 Filipinos—no less than 2,555 of these ascribed to the Philippine National Police, and many of the victims among the urban poor.
