Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III appealed to the public on Wednesday not to “misinterpret” the statement of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that corruption is the root cause of media killings in the country.

“Do not mistake or misinterpret the statement of the President. Ang sinabi lang naman ng Presidente, we have freedom of the press but we also have to be responsible in exercising it and given the nature of the Filipinos, sometimes they resort to violence and the Constitution can’t protect you from violence,” Pimentel said in an interview at the Senate.

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“But what has not been stated is that these people who violate the law by employing violence must be brought to justice. ‘Yan ang importante. So media killing man ‘yan, or killing of a business person, or killing of an innocent person, all of these killers must be brought to justice. That’s very important,” he said.

READ: Laviña says Duterte ‘taken out of context’ on journalist killings

Duterte is chairman of PDP-Laban, while Pimentel is president.

Reports have quoted the President-elect as saying that some journalists have been killed because they either took bribes or they took sides.

“It’s not because you’re a journalist you’re exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a b****,” Duterte said.

READ: Duterte endorses killing corrupt journalists

“The Constitution can no longer help you ‘pag binaboy mo isang tao. Your freedom of expression can’t help you if you’ve done something wrong with the guy,” he further said.

READ: Duterte: Media corruption root cause of journalists’ killings

Asked if Duterte was justifying the media killings, Pimentel said: “Hindi nga e… Mini-misinterpret n’yo nga e. Alam n’yo naman na ‘yun lang ang na-omit, na hindi sinabi.”

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(No… You misinterpreted it. You know it was just omitted, that it wasn’t mentioned.)

“Sinabi lang n’ya, may nasaktan, na ‘yung nasaktan took the law into his own hands and employed violent means. Therefore, you can’t use the Constitution to protect you kasi nga sinaktan ka na o pinatay ka na… but it doesn’t mean na the killers; sabi nga ni incoming President Duterte, gusto n’yang ibalik ang death penalty sa drugs, sa rapist, at saka sa murderers. Hindi pa ba klaro ‘yun? These people are also murderers and they must be brought to the bar of justice,” the senator added.

(He just said that someone was hurt and that someone took the law into his own hands and employed violent means. Therefore, you can’t use the Constitution to protect you just because you were hurt or killed… but it doesn’t mean the killers; incoming President Duterte even said he wants to bring back the death penalty to drug users, rapists, and murderers. Isn’t that clear? These people are also murderers and they must be brought to the bar of justice.) JE

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