MANILA, Philippines – Unsatisfied with the status of the hunt for policemen involved in illegal drug trafficking, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to increase his reward for their capture to P3 million each.

“I’m raising the ante. I’m offering P3 million per head. Tingnan ko. Tataasan ko. So we will get them,” he said on Wednesday, September 20, during the awarding of outstanding government workers in Malacañang.

Duterte previously offered P2 million each for the arrest of policemen who acted as gunmen for the Parojinog clan in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental.

These policemen were supposedly used by the powerful family to exterminate their enemies. Their victims were allegedly buried behind a barangay hall in Ozamiz City.

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)

EJK for dirty cops?

While Duterte has been distancing himself from extrajudicial killings of innocents, he said it’s perfectly fine if scalawag police personnel meet such a fate. 

“Balutin niyo ulo nila, lagay mo sa hagdanan ko, no questions asked,” said Duterte on Wednesday, during the oath-taking of Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association officials.  (Wrap their heads, put it on the steps of my staircase, no questions asked.)

Duterte reminded Philippine National Police officials to discipline the police force in light of recent controversies surrounding their implementation of his war against illegal drugs. – Rappler.com