President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he will not give pardon to the three policemen convicted of killing 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in August last year.
Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 125 has sentenced PO3 Arnel Oares, PO1 Jeremias Pereda, and PO1 Jerwin Cruz to imprisonment between 20 and 40 years for the murder of Delos Santos.
Asked by reporters if he will grant the convicted Caloocan police officers pardon, Duterte said: “Of course not. Maybe one million years from now.”
Months after he launched his controversial war on drugs, Mr. Duterte said soldiers and police will not be jailed for carrying out his order to go after drug suspects.
However, he made it clear that he will only protect law enforcers who will do their duties in accordance with the law.
“Ang sinabi ko I will defend to death my soldier and my policemen if they commit some acts, which (may be considered) criminal but done in the performance of their duties,” Duterte said.
“Hindi ko iiwanan ‘yan kasi kung hindi papatayin ako ng sundalo ko pati pulis, kasi ako ang nag-utos sa kanila ng ganun pero for you to murder, hindi kasali ‘yan,” he added.
The killing of Delos Santos drew widespread condemnation of Duterte’s war on illegal drugs, but former officials of the Northern Police District (NPD) claimed Delos Santos was a known drug-runner in his community.
Since Duterte took office in 2016, the administration’s drug war has claimed the lives of almost 5,000 people, according to official government data from the Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).