Philippines' Duterte
vows to keep 'shoot-to-kill' order
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About 800 people have
been killed since Rodrigo Duterte won a landslide election in May 2016,
according to reports by Philippine local press (AFP Photo/Noel Celis)
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Manila
(AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to maintain his
"shoot-to-kill" order against drug dealers while in office and says
he "does not care about human rights".
About
800 people have been killed since Duterte won a landslide election in May,
according to reports by the local press which has been tracking the maverick
politician's campaign pledge to kill tens of thousands of criminals.
"This campaign (of) shoot-to-kill will remain until the last
day of my term if I'm still alive by then," the 71-year-old said at a news conference in his
southern hometown of Davao.
"I don't care about human rights, believe me," he said, according to official
transcripts released by the presidential palace Saturday.
He
said government officials who use their positions to engage in a trade that
wrecks the lives of many Filipinos were first on his list.
Duterte
said he was also offering soldiers and police his "official and personal
guarantee" of immunity from prosecution for killings undertaken in the
performance of their duties.
The
president dismissed critics' suggestions some of the 402 suspects whose
killings have been acknowledged by the police were "salvaged", the
local police term for summary execution.
Hundreds
of others have been killed by suspected vigilantes, according to unofficial
tallies by local newspapers and television networks.
The
UN anti-drugs office on Wednesday joined international rights organisations in
condemning the rash of killings.
"The
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime remains greatly concerned by the
reports of extrajudicial killing of suspected drug dealers and users in the
Philippines," its executive director Yury Fedotov said in a statement.
"I
join the United Nations secretary general in condemning the apparent
endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental
rights and freedoms," Fedotov added.
In
June, UN chief Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned Duterte's apparent support of
extrajudicial killings.
"These NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that are
complaining to the United Nations, this is none of their business," Duterte retorted.
"I'm waging a war. I am now invoking the articles of war."
Duterte
said he had no fear the anti-crime campaign would cause his impeachment and
removal from office.
"The Filipino is crying for justice" from crimes committed
by drug dependents, he
said.
Police
say more than 500,000 people have surrendered to the local authorities and
pledged to stop using illegal drugs.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/philippines-duterte-vows-keep-shoot-kill-order-071648385.html
Philippines' Duterte says he's willing to face probe into drug killings
August 17, 2016
By
Manuel Mogato
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Rodrigo Duterte on being tough on criminals
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MANILA
(Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday his
government is willing to face any inquiry into the deaths of hundreds of
suspected drug dealers and users as human rights groups express alarm over
extrajudicial killings.
Nearly
600 suspected drug peddlers and users have been killed in police operations
since Duterte took power six weeks ago, police say, but rights groups put the
number at more than 1,000.
"We are willing to submit ourselves for an investigation before
anybody," Duterte
said in a speech at the national police office, adding some of the killings
were carried out by drug gangs.
"But do not attribute acts of other criminals upon my
government. The fight against drugs will continue unrelenting until we have
destroyed the apparatus operating in the entire country."
There
have been cases when police officers have killed suspected drug dealers in
handcuffs, in police custody or inside prison cells, civil rights lawyers have
said. Police have said they will not condone wrongdoing but that some may have
been killed by rogue officers.
In
another public event, Duterte attacked Senator Leila de Lima, who will open a
public inquiry next week into drug-related killings, saying she was only
playing politics and linked her driver to the drugs trade.
"It's
character assassination," an emotional de Lima told reporters at the
Senate. "It's so foul. I did not expect the president to do that."
Duterte
won the presidency in May on a single platform of suppressing crime and drugs,
declaring war on narcotics on his first day in office. He has identified 160
officials, police and judges in a name-and-shame campaign to stop the drug
trade.
"I myself, who ordered the campaign against drugs, take full
and sole responsibility for it,"
Duterte said, cautioning police against using excessive force in making
arrests.
"Do not kill if you're not in danger of losing your life."
(Editing
by Nick Macfie)
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/philippines-duterte-says-hes-willing-face-probe-drug-095647738.html
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