Roque to prove legality of documented drug killings

FILE: Roque said he should not have revealed this yet as it is not a presidential statement (YANCY LIM/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

The Presidential Spokesperson, in his defense on the administration’s campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, said that he will personally review drug killings and prove the legality of these cases documented by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“I’ve actually coordinated with the police to document each of the killings they have reported and actually make sure there is no basis to prosecute our men in uniform in connection with these killings,” Harry Roque, Jr. said in a press conference on April 24, Tuesday.

Roque said that he should not have revealed this yet as it is not a presidential statement, but as part of his work as a presidential adviser, the documentation is already half-way done.

“So in a few months, I will have a file each for every killing that reported by the PNP indicating that there was no excessive use of force; and if there is a reason to file charges against the killers, then I will encourage the filing of charges para matapos na nga iyong pagpupula na walang ginagawa (so that comments that we are not doing anything can stop),” he further explained.

According to Roque, the investigation of the controversial campaign cannot be done easily just like any simple investigation.

Since the PNP welcomed its new chief Oscar Albayalde, the spokesperson noted that before Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa retired from his post, they already finished more than half of the cases.

“And I think, General Albayalde will even be more cooperative in this regard because he really wants to promote discipline amongst the ranks of the PNP. He will hasten the process. So I foresee that in the next two or three months, we should be finished and we should come up with the report on how many should be charged if any,” he added.

Roque then said that he looks forward to confidently answering complaints with “That’s not true. We went through each and every case, and we can convincingly say that there was no excessive use of force in these instances” after the report is done.

He also denounced Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson’s claim that the government is not doing anything to address the concerns of the people on President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s anti-illegal drug war.

“Siniseryoso rin po namin iyan, kaya lang hindi namin kinakailangan ibandera lahat ng ginagawa namin. Basta ako, alam ko ang ginagawa namin ang aming katungkulan at okay na po iyon. Napakahirap po niyan, iniisa-isa na po namin iyan (We are taking it seriously, but we do not have to announce everything that we doing. As for me, I know that we are doing our responsibility and that is okay. It is a tough job, since we check each),” Roque said.