Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked for a six-month extension for his war on drugs, saying there are too many people involved in the narcotics trade and he “cannot kill them all”.
Advertisement
“I did not realise how severe and how serious the problem of drug menace in this republic was until I became President”, Mr Duterte said. “I will tell them, ‘fuck you.’ You’re doing it in atonement for your sins”, Duterte said in a speech in Davao City, his hometown in the southern Philippines.
Almost two thirds of alleged drug dealers killed by unknown assailants and the rest killed in legitimate police operations targeting a list of people linked to drug trade. As the numbers of the alleged extra-judicial killings kept soaring, Duterte has come under fire for abusing human rights by stoking up the anti-drug craze with his public statements.
Before becoming the President, Duterte vowed to kill tens of thousands of criminals and to get rid of illegal drugs in the country in six months.
In response to European Union criticism on extrajudicial killings, the Filipino President Duterte responded “fuck you” on Tuesday. Leila De Lima’s immediate reinstatement to signal its support for justice and human rights.
More than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since July and more than 600,000 others have surrendered for fear of being killed in Duterte’s crackdown.
Over the past month, Duterte has slammed critics of the drive, including the United States and United Nations following their calls for the president to stop extrajudicial killings taking place in the Philippines in the fight against illegal drugs. I’m telling them, ‘F**k you. Richard Gordon, who was designated to replace de Lima.
The controversial leader swept to power in May after promising to kill 100,000 drug dealers within six months of coming to power.
“This is why I am urging you to reinvent yourselves as soldiers for a new kind of war and to master the skill of profiling criminals”, Duterte said.
The high toll and mysterious circumstances of some of the killings have alarmed rights groups, the United States and United Nations, whose concerns have drawn angry rebukes from Duterte.
As mayor of Davao in the late 1980s, Duterte build a reputation for his violent approach to crime-fighting.
Advertisement
THE EUROPEAN Delegation to the Philippines was mum on Wednesday following another expletive-laden rant by President Rodrigo Duterte, who railed on Tuesday against Brussels for condemning his deadly crackdown on drugs.
