Duterte orders shoot to kill vs communist rebels
- speculoteam
- Mar 10, 2021
- 2 min read
By Kristine Gaile Gregorio

President Rodrigo Duterte commenced the project distribution to the villages in Cagayan De Oro last March 5 and said that the government had been liberated from the communist rebellion.
Together with the assurance of funding with the said projects, he directly ordered the police and military to “kill” and “finish off” members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and “don’t mind human rights.”
With Duterte as its chair, The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), with a P16-billion budget will be giving P20 million to each of 822 villages nationwide that are said to have been emptied of the presence of rebels.
Starting in Northern Mindanao on Friday, the President will be going to the regions to see to it that socioeconomic developments are brought to the barangays, according to National Security Adviser and NTF-Elcac vice chair Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
However, during the plenary session at the Senate on Tuesday, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa defended Duterte’s “hyperbolic” statements, telling that he would never issue illegal orders.
In the discussion of the report of the defense committee on its red-tagging investigation, Dela Rosa said, being Duterte’s first Philippine National Police, “Personally, when I receive orders coming from the president when he was then the mayor, first and foremost, my basic foundation there is that I know he’s a lawyer… He won’t give orders that are illegal.”
Dela Rosa added, “But he’s not saying: ‘Do what’s illegal as long as you can carry out my orders.’ I know he means well, and he means that all that he wants to happen should be legal.”
He said that the President just proceeds with stating “hyperbolic” pronouncements to emphasize his orders and to signify that he really means business.
On the other hand, Sen. Richard Gordon reminded that there could be misinterpretations of what Duterte has ordered.
“What happens is even if that is not what he intended? If somebody dies, he would still be liable. Even if he did not intend to inflict harm or death, he would still be liable,” he said.
“The problem is the misinterpretation could lead to disastrous consequences… My worry is, if the commander-in-chief says something, there’s no room for interpretation and he must be clear,” he added.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday in a televised briefing that it is not illegal to kill rebels if there is “military necessity” and if it will achieve the objective which is the complete subjugation of the enemy.
"Under IHL (international humanitarian law), tama iyong order ng Presidente—kill, kill, kill—kasi nga po kapag mayroong labanan, kapag ang kalaban mo, may baril na puwede kang patayin, alangan namang ikaw ang maghintay na ikaw ang mabaril at mapatay," he said.
"Iyong order ng Presidente na 'kill, kill, kill', legal po 'yan dahil ang kaniyang sinabing 'kill, kill, kill' ay iyong mga rebelde na meron talagang hawak na armas," Roque added.
In an impromptu televised address aired last April 1, 2020, Duterte has also ordered police and soldiers to "shoot" residents causing "trouble" during the government's lockdown.
"I will not hesitate. My orders are sa pulis pati military, pati mga barangay na pagka ginulo at nagkaroon ng okasyon na lumaban at ang buhay ninyo ay nalagay sa alanganin, shoot them dead," he said.
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