President Duterte was just “bringing an idea” when he spoke about creating a “death squad” to hunt down the New People’s Army (NPA) insurgents, according to his spokesperson, Salvador Panelo. Panelo said one of the ideas being floated was to include the NPA rebel surrenderees in the “antisparrow” teams as they could easily identify their former comrades. Asked whether the lives of rebel returnees may be put in danger if they were made part of what the President calls Duterte death squad, Panelo said the returnees already faced retribution from their former comrades for surrendering to the government. He said the rebel returnees would be able “to save their lives” by helping authorities find the NPA death squads. Panelo said the government’s plan for the former rebels would not discourage their former comrades from surrendering.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 29, 2018 21:22 UTC