Philippine leader offers bounty for corrupt police

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has offered a two-million peso ($39,460) bounty for the neutralization -- "dead or alive" -- of every policeman allegedly involved in the drug trade or murder.

Duterte's offer came days after Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 15 others were killed in a bloody raid in the country's Northern Mindanao region.

"Like the policemen who are now shortlisted in the killing of so many civilians buried there at a cemetery in the back of a barangay hall, each of those policemen carry on their head now, I am announcing, [a bounty of] two million pesos," GMA News online quoted Duterte as saying.

The president was referring to a mass grave in Ozamiz City being linked to the erstwhile influential political clan, the Parojinogs.

Police in Ozamiz City have dug up bones in a mass grave used by members of the “martilyo [hammer] gang,” which has been linked to the Parojinogs.

Duterte had earlier tagged the Parojinogs as being among the narco-politicians operating in Mindanao. He said the Parojinogs, who hold key political posts, ran Ozamiz City like a “feudal state”.

"Two million pesos per head, dead or alive. Better be dead because [if not] I have to pay for [their] funeral parlor; that's an additional expense," the president added.

Duterte said he would visit Ozamiz City soon to confront policemen who allegedly served the interests of the Parojinogs, a Rappler report said.

This is not the first time Duterte has asked for vigilante justice; in August last year, the president promised rewards running to tens of thousands of dollars for information leading to the capture of police officers protecting drug syndicates.

Since Duterte came to power in July 2016, thousands of suspected drug offenders have been killed, about half of them in law-enforcement operations.

The UN, U.S. and the EU have expressed concerns over the killings and have urged the Philippine government to uphold the rule of law at all times.

These statements drew the ire of Duterte, who accused them of interfering with his campaign against drugs and of embarrassing him before the international community.