MANILA – Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s use of the term “death squad” during Monday’s Senate inquiry on his administration’s “war on drugs” was merely a figure of speech.
According to former Duterte administration spokesperson and former legal adviser, Atty. Salvador Panelo, the former President’s reference to Philippine National Police ( PNP) chiefs as a “death squad” was intended to underscore the harsh, often violent nature of law enforcement duties.
“What he’s saying is that these people are involved in enforcing the law and that when they arrest and if the criminal or suspected criminals resist arrest, then they can do reasonable force and necessarily kill,” Panelo said in an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “At The Forefront.”
“If they kill, then euphemistically, they’re the death squad. It’s a figure of speech,” he added. “He was also referring to the criminals (as death squads since) they were killing each other. They were the death squad that he referred to.”
Duterte, who initially claimed that several former PNP chiefs served as “death squad” leaders under his administration, later retracted the statement during the Senate probe.
Panelo also defended Duterte’s statement regarding his directive to law enforcement to encourage suspects to resist arrest, arguing that it fell within the bounds of the law, particularly in the context of self-defense.
“There’s nothing wrong with what he said. He said many, many times before that he was declaring war and that he wanted the police to be relentless in the pursuit against criminal syndicates and illegal drugs,” Panelo said.
Panelo said that the Constitution states that law enforcement officers are justified in using reasonable force, including lethal force when their lives are in immediate danger during an operation.
“Under the law, there’s a justifying circumstance of self-defense…when your life is in danger, then you use reasonable force even to the extent of killing the opponent,” he added./PN