(Eagle News) — Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Friday assured the public President Rodrigo Duterte would not tolerate abuses on the part of policemen.
Abella issued the pronouncement after the family of Kian Loyd delos Santos, 17, surfaced and disputed the account of policemen that he had fired at them when they were about to approach him as part of an anti-drug operation in Barangay 160 on Wednesday night.
Delos Santos’ father Zaldy noted that footage from a barangay closed-circuit television camera showed the three policemen who took part in the supposed operation “carrying” him before he was killed.
As such, he said the account his son fired at the policemen could not have been true.
“Piniringan daw ‘yung mata. Pinipilit nila magturo ng mga drug pusher eh wala namang alam ang anak ko,” Zaldy said in a television interview.
National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Oscar Albayalde said the three policemen and the commander of the police community precinct 7 where they were assigned have been relieved, pending an investigation by the Philippine National Police’s Internal Affairs Service.
“That incident I think is happily isolated,” Abella said during the Mindanao Hour press briefing.
He noted that while the President was vocal about his support for the police who were performing their duties, he would not “tolerate any abuse and breaches of the law.”
“I cannot assume what the President thinks but what we can say with confidence that those who are guilty of breaking the law, misuse or abuse will have to answer for that,” he said.
