PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday is mulling to reinstate Superintendent Marvin Marcos, who was suspended after being linked to the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
"Now, Marcos is suspended. I said, 'Reinstate that man because he's not there [when Espinosa slay happened]. He was too far away. He was not part of [that killing]'," the President said at the celebration of 26th anniversary of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) held at the Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Duterte made the pronouncement a month after the Department of Justice downgraded the murder case to homicide against Marcos for allegedly killing Espinosa inside the detention cell at the Baybay Sub-Provincial Jail in Leyte in November 2016.
Marcos, head of Criminal and Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, and other members of his team were charged with two counts of murder for purportedly being involved in the killings of Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap.
Espinosa was killed after Marcos' team served a search warrant on the mayor on November 5, 2016 for alleged possession of firearms.
Reports said the Philippine National Police - Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) recommended a six-month suspension without pay for Marcos instead of dismissal.
The President recounted that at the time Marcos was facing murder case, he did not intervene and let Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II handle the case.
He said that he now changed his mind and wanted Marcos to go back to service after the DOJ re-opened the investigation and ordered to downgrade the charges to homicide.
"I told Secretary Aguirre to investigate [the killing of Espinosa. He said, 'Brod, it's murder.' I said, 'Go ahead. I don't care. Just do your job. Charge him with murder. I really do not care. If it's beyond murder, charge him with appropriate charges.' Now, the reinvestigation found it's homicide," Duterte said.
"Now, if you resist even if you don't have a gun, that's homicide. If you tried to grab something, a gun or whatever, if there is a violence there, even how slight [it is], it is always a reason for the lawmen to do something which is really very drastic," he added.
Duterte then maintained that he would not allow his men to go to prison, especially if they are merely following his order.
He also slammed critics for their partial judgment between criminals and policemen accused of committing irregularities.
"They said there's a case [charged against my men]. And so? Son of a b****, if it's a criminal, you'll say there should be a presumption of innocence. But if it's from the government, there's none. Why is that stupid rationale there?" he said.
"I will never, never allow a military man, a government man, a policeman to be detained for doing his duty and obeying my order. I will not really allow that," he added.
At the sidelines of BJMP event, PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said he backed the President's plan to reinstate Marcos.
"That's all his (Duterte) policemen. Policemen's high morale should be boosted and the Commander in Chief will not leave his men if they're doing their job," Dela Rosa told reporters. (SunStar Philippines)