IN response to the recent killing of a former mayor allegedly involved in illegal drugs, Malacañang on Sunday said “the same fate will befall” any Filipino involved in the illegal activity, regardless of status, if they resist arrest.
“Regardless of the social and political status of persons involved and /or engaged in the illegal drug industry, the same fate will necessarily befall them if they resist arrest and shoot it out with the arresting officers,” presidential spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement.
“The law allows lawmen to use mortal violence against those who imperil their lives in the course of a legitimate police operation or arrest. The drug menace has struck and destroyed a generation of Filipinos and threatens the next one. It has been the cause of the commission of crimes against persons and properties. It made dysfunctional families of those who have been addicted to the prohibited drugs,” he added.
In a philstar.com report, former Parang, Maguindanao mayor Talib Abo, Sr. and his sibling were killed during anti-drug operations last Friday in Cotabato City. According to the local police, the raiding teams, who were searching for shabu in Mr. Abo’s house, were forced to “neutralize” the former mayor when the latter pulled out his gun and refused to cooperate.
Mr. Panelo said President Rodrigo R. Duterte will continue the government’s war against illegal drugs “pursuant to his constitutional authority to serve and protect the people.” He also reiterated that the government never initiate “drug-related killings outside the ambit of the law.”
“The government will pursue to the ends of the earth those who kill without justifying and exempting circumstances as provided by law until they are put behind bars. There will be no sacred cows in this administration,” he said.
“Those who disobey or violate the law will pay the price for their crimes or transgressions. The President will employ any means, unconventional or not but constitutionally allowed, to enforce the law. The President shall fulfill his constitutional mandate until the end of his term,” he added.
In a 2016 Philippine Star article, then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte named Mr. Abo as the head of a drug syndicate operating in Central and Southern Mindanao. Mr. Abo later denied the allegations, saying he was never linked nor charged with a drug-related offense. — C.A. Aguinaldo

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