Police Officers Received Money For Drug Busts Operations, President Duterte Says
On Monday (February 27, 2017), President Rodrigo Duterte admits that money was given to police officers for drug busts operations.
The president admitted that police officials receives money from the authorities for conducting legal drug buy-busts operations, but not as payment for killing drug suspects. The money given to cops were used by police assets to chase drug suspects.
“You know you have to give the police money because if they go out and hunt for [those] trafficking drugs, there must be a selling and buying, otherwise there is no trafficking. Kaya yung sinasabi na binibigyan sila ng pera, I don’t deny that,” said by Duterte quoted by ABS-CBN.
Mr. Duterte also explained he was already giving money to cops and militaries in every command conference since he was still the mayor of Davao City. The money was used for selling and buying illegal drugs as a part of their buy-bust operations.
The former Davao City mayor also admitted that there are some corrupt police officials pocketing the money, that was supposed to use for anti-narcotic operations. The president discussed this topic due to the claim of retired police officer Arthur Lascañas.
Lascañas claims that Mr. Duterte paid the members of the alleged Davao Death Squad (DDS) for every killing. He also said that DDS begins to kill criminals in Davao, but later they used to kill the political enemies of Duterte.
The president said that he will not deny that hundreds of criminals died in Davao during his 23-year term as Mayor, but drug suspects who only turns violently during police operations were killed.
Duterte explained that he was just giving the same orders, which he also gives in Davao City.
What can you say about President Duterte’s statement? Just feel free to leave your comments and reactions for this article.
