PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said that he intends to personally hear both sides of the violence that broke out during a rally in front of the US Embassy in Manila and try to solve it with “civility”.
“I intend to look at it. I will try to talk to the police, invite him for coffee, and I will talk to the activists. I would like to know what really happened,” Duterte said during a press conference upon his arrival at Davao International Airport (DIA) after his state visit at China.
The violence occurred while he was still in China, with one policeman identified as SPO3 Franklin Kho recorded as having driven a police vehicle back and forth ramming and running over protesters and later photographed pulling the hair of a man in lumad (indigenous people) attire.
According to the President, he will investigate the role and actions of both sides.
“The dimension could only be had if I will do the questioning myself. I do not want a quarrel,” he said.
He further said, “I don't want anybody hurt there, not the police, not the young militants. It’s about time that we should treat this matter with civility.”
These statements came after when a group of Moro and indigenous people (IP) protesters on Wednesday, rallied outside the US embassy because of the alleged presence of military and Americans in their ancestral domain. But, when the protest went unruly, the cops used their force to disperse the activist.
Around 30 activists were also arrested in the violent incident.
President Duterte cited the action of the police who drove the police mobile that rammed into the crowd of protesters, leaving several people sustained injuries as he said that it perhaps elicited by his fear over the fuming militant group who is allegedly trying to flip over the patrol car.
“The police said natakot kasi na-corner sila (The police said they got scared because they were cornered). There were just two of them in the crowd, they were surrounded by the group of militants,” Duterte noted.
But, the President was quick to clarify that he is not blaming anyone and will remain neutral until he heard both sides of the story.
“I’m not justifying it. Just a maybe, he was under stress. They might gang up on him, hurt him, so he acted on an instinct of self-preservation,” he said.
"Even in war, even in everything, its miscalculation. I think the police there [driving the car], nobody would ever do that in the means of a trouble.” Duterte then said that he do not want this kind of dispute among fellow Filipinos to happen under his administration.
Unlike in the previous administration wherein, where violence took over when militants and cops clashed.