Why Killing Criminals Is Illegal in the Philippines

Honestly, I wish someone had caught this before it got published as a reaction to one of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's critics.

"Iba ang MURDER at iba ang pagpatay sa mga kriminal. HINDI INUTOS NG AMING PANGULO ANG PATAYIN ANG INOSENTE. Kung meron mga tiwaling pulis hindi ito kasalanan ng Pangulo at ito ay kanyang paparusahan. Don't confuse MURDER WITH KILLING THE CRIMINALS."

I can only guess at the intent of this writer and perhaps it is to say that the president did not order anyone to murder anyone and I believe this to be true.

However, we have to consider that in order for a criminal to be killed legally, my limited understanding of the law leads me to believe that you have to assume a number of things are in place before it happens:

1) We have to have a law allowing the death penalty for certain crimes

2) That the person to be killed has been tried in a court of law and sentenced to death

Of course some smart-ass may point out that it is legal for anyone to kill someone in self defense. That would be true, generally, but I have to point out that in this particular case we are talking about killing criminals.

When does a person become a criminal? Well, a person becomes a criminal only after being convicted of a crime in a court of law and this is because everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. 

This is stated in the PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE MANUALPNPM – DIDM – DS – 9 – 1 under "Definition of Terms"

SUSPECT OR SUSPECTS – Individual(s) who is/are pointed to be by the victim(s) and witness(es) to have had committed the crime in issue. Subject person is not considered as a criminal unless otherwise his/her conviction is pronounced in the court.

Even in cases where police apprehend a person they see committing a crime, that person is still called a suspect and if that suspect resists arrests in a way that forces police to kill him or her, that person is still called a suspect.

Here's the tricky part in saying "Don't confuse MURDER WITH KILLING THE CRIMINALS", criminals cannot be killed by law enforcers or any agent of the law unless that person is sentenced to death by a court of law -- which cannot happen because we do not have a death penalty as of now.