MANILA: A city mayor in the Visayas in Central Philippines has revived his controversial decision to give $1,000 to any member of his police force who kills a criminal in the legitimate performance of his duties.

But as before, Mayor Tomas Osmena of Cebu, the capital city of the island province of Cebu, explained the $1,000 was not a reward but a financial assistance to any policeman who might be facing charges arising from the killing of a criminal in a “legitimate encounter” like in say, a campaign against illegal drugs.

Osmena said he suspended his order following a warning from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that it might lead to abuses by policemen who want to get the $1,000 Besides, he said, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) stripped him of his control and supervision over the Cebu City police for his lack of support for them in August 2016.

But he said he decided to revive his decision when the Napolcom granted his request in September last year and returned to him his control and supervision over the police.

Osmena, the scion of a powerful and influential clan not only in Cebu but also in the entire Visayas region, is the grandson of their patriarch the late Philippine president Sergio Osmena.

He recalled that he initiated such financial assistance when he was first elected as Cebu City mayor in 2004 as he rejected criticisms that this would promote violence.

“Promote violence? What kind of logic is that? Why don’t we disarm all the poiicemen? When policemen carry firearms, you might be promoting violence, right?” Osmena pointed in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the country’s biggest circulation daily.

He also pointed out that long before then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte was elected president in May 2016, he has already initiated such assistance for the Cebu City polie.

When he was installed as president, Duterte immediately declared war on illegal drugs and assured he would extend his full support to policemen accused of killing suspected drug dealers in the legitimate performance of their duties.