(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte will not extend pardon to the three policemen who were found guilty by a Caloocan court of murdering Kian delos Santos in 2017.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, in the first place, the President “will never tolerate policemen who intentionally kill, who had done it not in accordance with the performance of their duties.”
“Obviously the conviction is murder which is intentional..,” Panelo said, referring to the decision meted out by the Caloocan Regional Trial Court Branch 125 on P01 Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares and PO1 Jeremias Pereda and PO1 Jerwin Cruz.
The three policemen were sentenced to reclusion perpetua, but were cleared of the planting of evidence cases filed against them.
In a separate statement, Panelo added the President “has never encouraged impunity” and “has been equally harsh to wrongdoers in the government as he is to criminals.”
He said the President has never said “that erring government workers, much less the police, should evade responsibility for wrongful acts.”
“Abuses committed by the police have no place in an institution like the (Philippine National Police). As we have always stressed, the conduct of the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign is based on accountability. Therefore, we do not – and we will never – tolerate unjustified police violence, brutality or killing,” he said.
Panelo also hailed the conviction as a “triumph of justice,” lauding the Caloocan court, which handed down its verdict after six months, for the “swift administration of justice.”
Earlier, the Human Rights Watch hailed the Caloocan court’s decision, but expressed fears the three policemen would be pardoned.
The police had said Delos Santos was killed in a legitimate anti-drug operation, but footage from a closed-circuit television camera and witnesses belied this, showing and saying the boy was dragged into a corner and was shot.
