MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Wednesday, August 9, a P2-million bounty on the heads of policemen who acted as gunmen for the Parojinog clan in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental. 

“The policemen shortlisted in the killing of so many civilians buried in the back of the barangay hall, those policemen now carry [a bounty] on their heads, now two million [pesos] per head,” Duterte said.

The President was referring to cops who were used by the Parojinogs to target the family’s enemies. The clan, whose members were into military-sanctioned vigilante groups and later branched into organized criminal activities, has also held power in the city for around two decades. (READ: From Kuratong Baleleng to elected gov’t posts: The rise of the Parojinogs)

The most recent patriarch, Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, was killed with his wife Susan, brother Octavio Jr, sister Mona, and 11 others in a police raid before dawn of July 30. (TIMELINE: Parojinog, from Duterte’s narco list to a bloody raid)

Duterte announced the bounty during the 116th Police Service Anniversary, and said all 190,000 officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) should also heed the warning. 

According to Duterte, erring cops are “free to go and leave” the service, but that he would prefer they be captured, and captured alive, as funeral services would cost the government more.

It was not the first time the President threatened erring cops publicly. He had warned cops involved in the drug trade that he would have them killed. In another instance, he ordered erring cops to clean the Pasig River.

He also ordered that scalawags be sent to war-torn Marawi City, a proposal shot down by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. – Rappler.com