Cebu mayor-elect offers bounties for slain criminals

The incoming mayor of Cebu City said yesterday he was offering bounties to police to kill criminals, deepening concerns of extra-judicial deaths under the rule of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte. Tomas Osmeña, incoming mayor of Cebu City, said he would pay policemen P50,000 ($1,060) for each criminal they kill and P5,000 for each one they wound. “If you kill a criminal in the line of duty, (you’ll be rewarded), no questions asked. I’m there to assist the police, not to prosecute them,” Osmeña told AFP by telephone. BOUNTY GIVER — Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña (right) hands over reward money to Police Officer Julius Regis last Thursday for having shot two suspected robbers in the city a few days ago. Osmeña has vowed to reward lawmen P5,000 for every wounded criminal and P50,000 for a dead criminal in any legitimate law enforcement operation. (EPA) “That is my purpose: to instill [...]