The Public Attorney’s Office is urging the Philippine National Police to be extra careful in its anti-crime operations.
“There must be a marching order not to kill (a suspect) if one went down on his knees (to beg for his life),” PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta told radio dzBB on Sunday.
“Please, be careful in your police operations,” she told law enforcers, appealing to them not to use excessive force on the suspects.
But she clarified that police officers must always protect themselves if their lives are already in danger while neutralizing lawless elements.
“We cannot afford our police to die just like that, especially if the suspect is armed,” Acosta said.
She lamented that many men in uniform had sacrificed their lives during anti-crime operations, including in the war against illegal drugs.