Malacañang reminded the public on Sunday that violators of the law, regardless of social and political status, will pay the price for their crimes after a former Maguindanao mayor tagged in the government’s list of narco-politicians was killed under the administration’s crackdown on drugs.
“Regardless of the social and political status of persons involved and /or engaged in the illegal drug industry, the same fate will necessarily befall them if they resist arrest and shoot it out with the arresting officers,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said that the law allows law enforcers to use “mortal violence” against people who imperil their lives in the course of a legitimate police operation.
“The government will pursue to the ends of the earth those who kill without justifying and exempting circumstances as provided by law until they are put behind bars,’ Panelo said.
Panelo made the remark after Talib Abo, former mayor of Parang town, Maguindanao province and his brother Disomimba, died in a shootout with anti-drug enforcers who were trying to serve separate search warrants against the brothers on Friday evening.
Superintendent Aldrin Gonzales, spokesman of the Police Regional Office-12, said the authorities were forced to shoot back after the two refused to cooperate and provoked gunfights.
Panelo said that the law allows law enforcers to use “mortal violence” against people who imperil their lives in the course of a legitimate police operation or arrest.
“President Rodrigo Duterte’s relentless war against illegal drugs will continue pursuant to his constitutional authority to serve and protect the people. The state has not initiated and will never initiate drug-related killings outside the ambit of the law,” the Palace official said.
“The President will employ any means, unconventional or not but constitutionally allowed, to enforce the law. And he shall fulfill his constitutional mandate until the end of his term,” he added.
Abo was the sixth local chief executive who died under the government’s war on illegal drugs. His death came after the President stated that he would personally slit the throats of drug lords in front of human rights advocates.
“If you are a big-time player, I will not forgive you. I will slit your throat in front of human rights (activists). I don’t care. I’m telling you not to do that to my country. I will get you. So, I could not be more clear,” the President said in his speech on Thursday.
Abo was also the second senior politician based in Maguindanao to be killed in Duterte’s relentless drug war.
In October 2016, Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nine others, including his bodyguards, were shot dead in Old Bulatukan in Makilala, North Cotabato after authorities flagged down the mayor’s convoy for not stopping at a checkpoint and firing at the police.
Both Dimaukom and Abo were on the government’s list of public officials accused of being involved in the narcotics trade.