Over a year after stopping his controversial reward system for cops who kill, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is giving it a reboot.
During a press conference on Monday, Osmeña announced that he would give PHP50,000 (US$1,000) to police officers who kill a criminal “in the line of duty.”
While some media outlets called the cash assistance a “reward system,” Osmeña clarifies that this is to help with legal assistance in case charges are filed against the police officer.
He said the cash assistance would provide “peace of mind” to police officers who do their job.
Osmeña, who often draws comparisons to the tough-talking president Rodrigo Duterte, started his term in May 2016 with this program but suspended it two months later due to disagreements with police leadership in Cebu.
For those who aren’t familiar with the local political scene in Cebu, Osmeña had been mayor of the city from 1988 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2010.
According to local media, vigilante killings began during the term of Osmeña. And the style of vigilante killings in Cebu bore eerie similarities to the notorious methods of the Davao Death Squad.
Masked men on motorcycles would drive up to their target, more than likely someone with multiple strikes on their criminal records, before shooting them and speeding away.
Between 2004 and 2006 in Cebu City, 168 people with criminal records were killed, according to a tally from SunStar Cebu.
The 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on the Philippines that brought international attention to alleged summary executions in Davao also included a report on summary executions in Cebu.
The total number of vigilante-style killings in Cebu City totaled 202.
According to the report, Osmeña denied being behind the killings, but he might have inspired the vigilantes. “I don’t deny that,” he responded when asked by local media if he indeed inspired the killings.
In the Philippines, mayors have supervisory powers over the local police.
According to Inquirer.net, in 2004, Osmeña ordered the creation of a “hunters team” of elite policemen to go after suspected criminals.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) warned the mayor that his orders might encourage abuses.
To this, Osmeña responded, “Promote violence? What kind of twisted logic is that? Why don’t we disarm all the policemen? When policemen carry firearms, you might be promoting violence, right?”
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