Cayetano: Police exercising self-defense
Every single one of the reported 3,850 people killed in police antidrug operations under the Duterte administration were drug dealers, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano claimed in a media interview in the United States.
In a studio interview on the Al Jazeera program UpFront on Friday, Cayetano was challenged by the host, British journalist Mehdi Hasan, about the Philippine National Police report that 3,850 Filipinos had died in antidrug operations from July 1, 2016 to Sept. 16, 2017.
鈥淪o every single one of the three and a half thousand people who were killed was a drug dealer?鈥� Hasan asked.
鈥淵es,鈥� Cayetano replied, and was promptly rebuked by the host who said there had been no investigation nor charges filed proving the victims were drug dealers.
鈥淗ow do we know that? You didn鈥檛 try them. You didn鈥檛 prosecute them. You didn鈥檛 charge them. You shot them on site. That鈥檚 not a democratic way of solving crime, is it?鈥� Hasan said in rapid succession.
Pressed about due process for suspects, Cayetano said the police operatives were exercising self-defense, citing official accounts that the victims resisted arrest and fired at the officers first.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e absolutely saying it as if you鈥檙e not on the ground. Come and look. If I pull a gun on you, here right now and you shoot me, it鈥檚 your fault or my fault?鈥� Cayetano said.
He also said: 鈥淪o you mean in the US or even in any country your show is shown, if someone pulls a gun on the police, they have to bring them to court first before they fire back? The police are doing what they can.鈥�
Several deaths in the administration鈥檚 war on drugs, especially those of minors and young children, have been questioned and condemned. The death of 17-year-old聽 Grade 12 student Kian delos Santos during a police antidrug operation in Caloocan City in August sparked public outcry.
Police later said there was no official report implicating Delos Santos as a drug runner and that the conjecture was promoted by 鈥渟ocial media.鈥�
Cayetano also claimed that all the deaths in police antidrug operations were being investigated.
鈥淭hree and a half thousand. Every single one of them is being investigated 鈥� Independent investigators have seen progress,鈥� he said.
The foreign secretary was again put on the defensive about the credibility of the PNP when Hasan quoted Mr. Duterte as saying he did not trust the police.
鈥淧resident Duterte said: 鈥榊ou policemen are the most corrupt. You are corrupt to the core, it鈥檚 in your system.鈥� That doesn鈥檛 sound like rogue,鈥� Hasan quoted Mr. Duterte as saying in January.
Cayetano said 鈥渉yperbole and figures of speech are allowed鈥� in the President鈥檚 case.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not saying we should trust them. We said we should follow the law, which is presumption of regularity, but investigate,鈥� he said.