“It behooves upon me, nandito sa akin ‘yung obligasyon (I have the obligation) to tell the Filipino people what is happening to this country”, he said.
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Duterte said he plans to release the list in the “next few hours or days” through a video message to be aired on state-run news channel PTV4.
But Duterte stressed he would take appropriate action and measures to stop operators from further violating the country’s laws to the extent of making mining a “sunset” industry.
Despite growing concerns from local and global organizations, the president has said he does not care about the rising death toll of his administration’s campaign against drugs.
A check by the Inquirer showed that some of the names that Mr. Duterte mentioned included officials no longer in office, some having lost the last elections. “While they have no immediate ratings impact, we regard this aspect of the law and order focus of the new government as troubling because it has the potential to cast a shadow over enforcement of criminal laws without due judicial process and raises the possibility of breaches of civil rights and social unrest”.
“We are calling on the United Nations drug control bodies to publicly condemn these atrocities in the Philippines”, she said.
The campaign has drawn condemnation from some quarters, with Human Rights Watch calling the surge in killings unacceptable.
He’s doubling down on the policy, despite criticisms that his apparent support for extrajudicial killings is leading the country down a unsafe, lawless path.
Majority were killed by police allegedly because they fought back when arrested, while others were suspected of having been killed by vigilante groups or rival drug gangs.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov issued a statement on the reports of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and dealers in the Philippines.
“The incident this morning is connected to the current investigation pertaining to the involvement of the mayor and his son in the illegal drugs trade”, national police spokesman Dionaldo Carlos told reporters.
But Duterte said he is waging a war, and is “now invoking the articles of war”.
The UN anti-drugs office on Wednesday joined global rights organisations in condemning the rash of killings.
Thousands of drug users or dealers have reportedly flooded into rehabilitation centers or surrendered themselves. A mayor, the mayor’s son and a prominent businessman have also been accused of drug trafficking by Duterte who threatened their lives if they refused to surrender.
Duterte gave those on his list 24 hours to come forward to their supervising agencies or he would have police and the military hunt them down. Almost 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities.
“If you’re listening now Kerwin, your father has already surrendered so you should follow your father”, de la Rosa said in a weird live news conference with Espinosa.
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He asked the listed government officials to report to the interior ministry, the judges to the justice ministry, and the policemen and soldiers to report to their respective units.
