Police officials doubt this can be achieved, and human rights advocates fear that people’s rights and the rule of law will be ignored.
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He also has close ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is waging the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia.
“If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful”, he added.
The communists’ armed wing, the 4,000-strong New People’s Army, is known for assassinating civilians deemed to have committed so-called crimes against the people.
Unlike his statements during the election campaign which seemed to support extra-judicial killings of criminals, he assured the country that he would follow the law.
Duterte reiterated his promise to end criminality and corruption in government. In a separate engagement, he said: “These sons of whores are destroying our children. I know what is legal and what is not”, he said.
Duterte, 71, is a controversial former mayor of Davao City which was once called the “Murder capital” of the archipelago.
As early as December previous year, the CHR said it will gather evidence on Duterte’s alleged human rights abuses, including his alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings as mayor of Davao City for two decades.
In his inaugural speech before 627 guests Thursday, Duterte vowed to fortify Filipinos’ faith in government.
Duterte still defends the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea, and he said he would agree to talks only if China acknowledged those claims.
“He will spend three days in Manila and spend three days in Davao City”, the incumbent city vice mayor said.
Throughout the campaign season, Duterte has triggered widespread alarm over his stance on extrajudicial killings and his call for the restoration of death penalty.
According to human rights groups, death squads have killed at least 1,400 people in Davao since 1998, majority drug-pushers, addicts, petty criminals and street children. He said there were no suspects.
A few hours after taking office as the country’s 16th president Thursday, Duterte told a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace not to “flaunt” a possibly favorable ruling in a case filed by the Philippines at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
The new national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa, on Friday accused unnamed officers of trafficking drugs they had confiscated in anti-narcotics raids, and ordered them to turn themselves in by Sunday.
Aides said there would be no sumptuous banquet and no champagne corks popping, just a meal of homely dishes for the roughly 600 guests.
“When you have the highest ranking person, the president, saying this is the way he wants it to happen, you are emboldening the members of law enforcement to go beyond what the law requires”, he told AFP.
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During the campaign, Duterte said 100,000 people would die in his crackdown, with so many dead bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.
