MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday announced his intention to form his own “death squad” that will hunt Maoist rebels and their sympathizers.
The announcement came during his visit to an army camp in the town of Carmen in Bohol province.
Duterte said government troops remain vulnerable to attacks from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) hit squad, known as the Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) or “sparrow.”
He said he would be satisfied if each member of his proposed death squad would identify one or two NPA rebels for liquidation.
“I’m trying to make peace with them. They refuse, then they kill our policemen and soldiers,” he added.
“What I lack is a sparrow unit… so I’ll create a sparrow – Duterte Death Squad – against the sparrow. There’s no problem because they’re our enemy. Why should we hide?”
Duterte told soldiers: “If you’re going to shoot him, then shoot him… Shoot to kill. Don’t shoot and then bring him to the hospital because I’d just have to spend money on him... If you think that your life is in danger, shoot.”
His intention to form a death squad was met with a barrage of criticism, especially from human rights and leftist groups, while some lawmakers expressed serious concerns about the potential for abuses.
The founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Jose Maria Sison, accused Duterte of “inventing” things, saying SPARU “don’t exist anymore the way they existed in the 1970s and 1980s.”
Sison added: “It’s Duterte who says a lot about the sparrow unit, but the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) authorities haven’t been talking about it.”
Duterte is just “giving license again to military officers to kill anyone in bus terminals just because they don’t like the look of anyone who’s a tambay (idler),” Sison said.
The president is “inventing” things “to justify his own death squad, which is illegal and in violation of international law,” Sison added.
“He’s making himself liable for arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) when he’s out of power.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) told Arab News that Duterte’s announcement “is sadly no surprise.”
Carlos Conde, Philippines researcher at HRW, said: “If there was a death squad Olympics, Duterte would be on the victory stand. Yet his murderous policies continue to make the people of the Philippines the losers. His statement is a declaration of open season against rebels, leftists, civilians, and critics of the government.”
Conde added: “Duterte once again affirmed extrajudicial killing as his administration’s official policy against government critics. Given how easy it is for the authorities to accuse anybody of being a rebel or a ‘communist sympathizer’ and declare them as ‘enemies of the state,’ Duterte’s announcement is abominable and should be rejected by Filipinos, human rights defenders and the international community.”
Duterte’s statement is just one more reason for the ICC to take a keen interest in the Philippines, Conde said.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of Duterte, said the president made the statement “to strike fear again in the hearts and minds of the Filipinos by forewarning that there would be another round of killings.”
Trillanes added: “He is doing this because he feels that he is losing his grip on power and that fear is his only way to keep people in check.”
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the proposal to form a death squad will be studied “very closely,” particularly who will be part of it, who will supervise it, who will be its targets, and who will be accountable.
Lorenzana acknowledged that there is a danger of abuses or mistakes in such undercover operations, such as identifying targets.
“One way to prevent this is for someone higher up to give the go signal after careful and thorough vetting. There should be no blanket authority for its operatives,” he said.
With Duterte’s announcement, a resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is unlikely anytime soon, Lorenzana added.
