No wrongful arrests, Rody tells lawmen
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2019 08:30:16 +0000
Even as he pledged to protect police and jail officers performing their duties, President Duterte has called on law enforcers to avoid arresting the “wrong person” and committing other abuses.
The President said while most inmates deserved to be in prison, he grieves for the “innocent” detainees after recognizing some problems in the criminal justice system.
“Because of the huge number, persons arrested every day, nagkakaroon tayo ng bedlam sa ating presohan. Of course, I grieve for those who are really innocent,” he said during the 28th anniversary of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
“I hope that the law enforcement would never use it for personal reasons or arrest a wrong person to send him to jail. ‘Yan ang mahirap,” he said.
Duterte, a former Davao City mayor and State prosecutor, said the arrest of a supposed innocent person places the prosecutor in a “quandary.” “You want to help but you do not want to be also placed in the suspicion that you are in the take. That’s why there is always the fight of moral, you know, responsibility,” he said.
Duterte, who has waged a controversial war on drugs and criminality since he assumed office in 2016, said he could only “pray for the innocents” but will let the guilty ones “rot in hell for all time.” (Genalyn Kabiling)