The members of the Parojinog clan, who are involved in illegal drugs, will only be killed when they resist arrest, the Palace said Thursday after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to “wipe out [the family] from the face of the Earth.”
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte was only calling out to the Parojinog involved in illegal drugs.
“He is actually referring to those who are involved in drugs. They should be prosecuted to the fullest,” Panelo said.
He said Duterte did not issue any shoot-to-kill orders against the members of the Parojinog clan.
“It means he will pursue to the ends of the earth,these criminals until they are behind bars,” Panelo said, adding the killing would only happen if the Parojinogs resisted arrest.
“[The killing will only come] if they do violence to those who are enforcing the law. It is very clear every time the President says that,” Panelo said.
“And the law allows killing when their [police] lives are endangered. It is a justified circumstance under the Revised Penal Code. There is no need for an order to shoot to kill.”
Panelo made the remark following Duterte’s warning to wipe out the Parojinogs.
“The Parojinog family, stop threatening people. I will wipe you from the face of the earth, I’m telling you,” Duterte said in his speech during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ozamiz Airport Modernization Project in Misamis Occidental Wednesday night.
“I will really finish all of you off including the police. You better watch out. I’ll have you called in Manila. When you arrive at the airport, I’ll have you killed.”
The Palace said the President was only trying to fulfill his promise to the people to make the country safe.
“All actions of the President are based on one constitutional command, that is to serve and to protect the people,” Panelo said.
“If that place there endangers the lives of the people there, then he is required, he’s directed, he’s commanded and ordered by the Constitution to do something about it. Otherwise, he is remiss of his constitutional duty to protect and to serve the people.”
In July 2017, Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Jr. and 14 others were killed in a series of anti-drug raids led by Police Superintendent Jovie Espenido.
Meanwhile, the Palace also defended Duterte’s order to transfer the controversial police officer back to Ozamiz City, saying his reassignment was to address the rising drug incidence in the city following his absence.
“Espenido was successful in ridding the place of drug lords, those who push through drugs. And apparently, since his departure, the drug incidence there increased by leaps and bounds. So, the President needs men like Espenido to do the work,” Panelo said.
“The situation is not getting good anymore, that is why he has to come back. Maybe he has an effective way of doing things [against drug personalities].”