President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he wants the police to bring back the use of batons in subduing criminals resisting arrest.
“Pagka gano’n, pinalo ka na ng pulis kasi ayaw mo sumama… Puwede kang paluin ng pulis sa paa, then he must bring you to the station. That is the duty of the police, to insist,” Duterte said in his weekly address.
(If that’s the case and the police hit you and you resisted, the police could hit you at your foot, then he must bring you to the station.)
“Alam mo, nagtaka talaga ako kung bakit ito tinanggal,” he added. “Bakit nawala ito na dapat ito ang first line of defense ng pulis?”
(You know, I really wondered why it was removed. Why did it disappear that it should be the first line of police defense?)
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año discussed using “yantok” or rattan sticks at the briefing, explaining that they measure one meter in length and were currently used by police “yantok patrollers” to impose physical distancing in public areas.
Duterte eyes buying rubber batons for cops in 2021
Año added cops could also use the rattan sticks for self-defense.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. expressed Monday his opposition to enforcers’ threat of using “yantok” or rattan stick in implementing COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“This is the only ‘yantok’ we will accept and only from someone in her uniform. Anyone else in any other uniform can go f*ck a duck,” Locsin said in a tweet captioning a nun holding a stick.
Palace spokesperson Harry Roque agreed with Locsin’s point of view and warned cops against using sticks to punish protocol violators.
“Hindi po pupuwedeng gamitin iyan na pang-hit or pamalo dahil hindi naman po iyan pinapayagan sa ating batas at sa regulasyon ng PNP [Philippine National Police],” Roque said at a news conference.
“Pupuwede pa po siguro to measure social distancing, to make sure one meter, pero hindi po iyan para pampalo ng taumbayan.”
However, the President argued that batons make a good “not-so-lethal weapon” against aggressive criminals.
“We’ll look for the money next year, I’ll buy you the baton… ‘Yung batuta, ibalik ko siguro. But I do not want yung kahoy. It can break the bones inside the body. ‘Yung ano lang, rubber,” he said.