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”.
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An improvised explosive device caused the explosion on September 2, presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said, adding drug traffickers opposed to Duterte’s war on crime or Islamic militants mmight have been responsible.
“Even if I wanted to, I can not kill them all because the last report would be this thick”, Duterte quipped, referring to a new, still unpublished list of mostly elected public officials linked to the illegal drug trade.
Without directly blaming the government, European Union lawmakers said they believed Mr. Duterte’s incendiary public statements encouraged mass murders involving drug traffickers and users.
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.
In a five-page resolution passed on Thursday, the European Union lawmakers expressed concern over the extraordinarily high number of drug suspects killed by police and vigilantes in the Philippines since Mr. Duterte launched a crackdown on the illegal drug trade upon taking office on June 30.
“We would need time to put everything in order”, he said.
The last list published included military and police officials, lawmakers and judges with alleged connections to drug trade.
Duterte said in a speech late Monday that threats to investigate him locally or by worldwide organizations like the United Nations over possible human rights violations would not stop him from proceeding with the drug crackdown.
But Duterte said that a new not-yet-published list of people also contains names of some government officials such as village chiefs, adding the names in the new list were “verified”.
In return, De Lima said: “We are both professionals, the president and I”.
Duterte has accused de Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that her former driver took money from detained drug lords.
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He also said he supported calls to postpone the barangay elections, to be held in October, because drug money could be used to ensure victory of those who connive with drug dealers. They (the foreign critics) just don’t realize it because it’s not their country, ‘ he said.
