(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, June 25, urged the police to continue following his order against loiterers, including minors.
“That is my order. And you continue to frisk people who are there doon sa daan,” Duterte said in a speech before newly-elected barangay chairmen of Northern Mindanao in Cagayan de Oro.
According to Duterte, the President “can order, the mayor can order the barangay, issue regulations to protect public health, public safety, public order and to protect the general welfare of the people.”
He said the police should not mind criticisms, saying it was “none of their business to be reading what they are talking about.”
“Below 18, you arrest the teenagers there around loitering because we have to protect our children..They are not being arrested for any crime. It’s for their own good that they are arrested,” Duterte said.
He said this was the parens patriae principle, which refers to the state’s power to care for those who cannot care for themselves.
Human rights advocates and opposition lawmakers have criticized Duterte’s order, saying it allows for the violation of rights of the alleged loiterers.
But the police noted that loiterers were only arrested if they violated laws such as drinking alcohol in public places, among others.