MALACAÑANG said Friday it is concerned about what it called "suspicious" killings of teenagers who were presumed to be victims of police officers fighting the war on drugs.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the government would punish errant policemen who will be proven to be exercising felonious executions of minors suspected to have been involved in illicit drugs trade.
"It needs to be investigated to actually determine what seems to be behind these events," Abella told a press conference.
"It's a deep concern. Like we said earlier, any death – even just one single, violent death – is a call for concern, especially with the younger ones," he added.
Critics have decried that the killings of teenagers who were purportedly the latest victims of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody drug war that already killed thousands of suspected drug offenders.
Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros insisted that there was a "pattern of killing young and poor people, particularly innocent minors" under Duterte's brutal drug crackdown.
The Chief Executive, however, denied that he ordered the policemen to kill "defenseless" individuals.
"I did not order to kill a child or an adult, and even the enemy on bended knees. That's not the norm or the rule of democracy," said Duterte on Wednesday at the 60th founding anniversary of Social Security System in Quezon City.
The death of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman, whose body bore 30 stab wounds, is the latest victim of violence.
De Guzman is the third teenager murdered amid the ongoing fight against narcotics sale.
His remains were discovered in Gapan, Nueva Ecija days after his companion, 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who is accused of robbing a taxi driver and having a possession of shabu and marijuana, was killed.
Their deaths followed the shooting of another teenager, Kian Delos Santos, during an anti-drug operation on August 16 carried out by Caloocan policemen.
Police identified Delos Santos as a drug peddler but his parents and related refuted such claim.
Abella said the teenagers' deaths were a "growing concern," noting that the President "is very concerned and deeply protective of the next generation."
He said the executive branch would not tolerate any abuse within the police force.
"We are one with the public in condemning the suspicious deaths of Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman. The executive, through the Philippine National Police, will cooperate with the Senate investigation and any other investigations called for," the presidential spokesman said.
"Rogue cops, if and when allegations are proven true, have no place in an institution like the Philippine National Police. And we need everyone’s full support and cooperation as we continue to cleanse its ranks,” he added.
Following the killings of minors, Abella reminded parents to ensure that their children are “kept away from questionable activities.”
"[Parents should] warn them (children) again and again not to be even physically near, not to even entertain suspicious activities or even companions. [Children have] to be careful," Abella said. (VoxPop Philippines)
