President Rodrigo Duterte during the 113th Founding Anniversary celebration of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) at its National Office in Quezon City on August 2, 2017. (KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said that the Parojinogs ran Ozamiz City like a feudal state as he stood by policemen who conducted a raid that led to the demise of Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 14 others on Sunday morning.
“They were running the city as if it was a feudal state of the family. Kaya sinabi ko, ‘Huwag ninyong gawain ‘yan.’ Eh ‘pag hindi ninyo sinunod — sasabihin, ‘Bakit namatay?’” Duterte told reporters at the sidelines of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s anniversary in Quezon City on Wednesday, Aug. 2.
“Parojinog has been there and you can ask the ordinary citizen of Ozamiz,” he added.
It can be recalled that the Parojinogs had been tagged earlier by the President as one of the narcopoliticians that operates in the island of Mindanao.
But the chief executive stood firm of his earlier pronouncement that he would took responsibility for the deadly raid on July 30.
“I will answer for it. I ordered it,” he said.
“And so my order to the military and the police and rightly so: to destroy the organization, both the supplier, the users and everybody connected with the organization because they keep alive the trade,” he added.
When asked if there’s an abuse of power, Duterte said that the combined forces of police and military must ensure that Parojinogs are dead.
“The police and the military should make sure that their enemies are dead. Otherwise, if the other guy can still pull the trigger, you will end up with a dead police or a dead military soldier,” Duterte said.
Sunday’s raid which resulted to the death of 15 people drew criticisms from the lawmakers perceived to be critical of the Duterte administration.
Both senators Franklin Drilon and Richard Gordon, for instance, questioned the timing of serving of search warrants during the Ozamis raid.
But Duterte maintained that serving search warrants can be served anytime.
“The criticism that [it should have been done], preferably daytime, but if an operation against shabu is not carried on during daytime because there is light, the police can go there any time convenient for them to arrest,” he said.
“And I will stand by the police there. Nobody does a transaction, unloading of shabu when the sun is up. In public view? That’s crazy,” Duterte pointed out. (davaotoday.com)
