'Shoot-to-kill' order vs IP activist already lifted, Cordillera police chief says

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The "shoot-to-kill" order against a Cordillera IP leader is already lifted, Police Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan of the Cordillera regional police, said, adding the order was only meant as a last option and is a standard police procedure.

The Philippine National Police headquarters in Manila said there is no such policy.

Pagkalinawan made the statement Wednesday in response to concerns raised by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance over the safety of Windel Bolinget, against whom the regional police chief issued the order in January. The Tagum City court that ordered his arrest last year has withdrawn the order.

"In the first place, when I ordered that, it was made as a last option (of the operatives) because Bolinget, like any other suspect or subject of arrest, would be first asked to surrender or peaceably go with the police," he said.

Bolinget went into the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation in January. This lifted the "shoot-to-kill" order against him, Pagkalinawan said.

Tagum City Regional Trial Court Judge Sharon Rose Saracin isued a warrant for Bolinget's arrest last September so that he and nine others could undergo trial for the murder of a certain Garito Tiklonay Malibato in Kapalong, Davao del Norte in March 2018.

Pagkalinawan issued a "shoot-to-kill" order to policemen then hunting Bolinget "if he fights back while being served of his warrant."

The Cordillera police chief said that the order "is a standard PNP operational procedure for operatives and arresting officers when engaging uncooperative suspects or subjects resisting arrest."

Police Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana declined to comment on Pagkalinawan's statement but told Philstar.com in Filipino that "PNP does not have a shoot-to-kill policy."

Under PNP operational procedures, "the use of weapon is justified if the suspect poses imminent danger of causing death or injury to the police officer or other persons." The procedural handbook does not discuss "shoot-to-kill" orders. 

Pagkalinawan said that with the Tagum City court's withdrawal of the arrest warrant against Bolinger, "the PNP, as always, will honor it as it is an order of a duly constituted authority that must be respected." — from a report by The STAR/Artemio Dumlao