Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte is sticking to his tough line on drugs by encouraging the police, or indeed any citizens with weapons, to shoot and kill narcotics dealers who try to resist arrest and fight back.
“Those among you in your respective neighbourhoods, feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun, you have my support,” he told a gathering of party faithful in his home city of Davao.
Mr Duterte was mayor of Davao for 22 years and he has been largely ensconced there since winning the May 9th presidential election on a ‘tough-on-crime’ ticket, avoiding the capital Manila.
“Should a suspect resist arrest and fight back, the Rappler website reported, then “you can kill him … if you destroy my country, I will kill you. If you destroy the youth of this country, I will kill you,” Mr Duterte said.
Mr Duterte’s campaign was characterised by outrageous remarks, including a rape fantasy about a murdered Australian missionary and pledges to kill criminals and throw their bodies into the Bay of Manila.
Human rights activists are worried that Mr Duterte’s comments may spark widespread rights violations, but he seems unworried. He is due to be sworn in as the next Philippine president in a few weeks.
Mr Duterte outlined plans to fight drug syndicates in each barangay district, which involved bringing suspected dealers to the station, but which require familiarity with guns and law enforcement.
He has also offered millions of pesos in bounties for the capture or death of drug lords.
Over the course of his election campaign, Mr Duterte has ruffled many feathers.
Nicknamed The Punisher for his tough approach to crime, he has attacked the Catholic Church on family planning and called the pope a “son of a bitch”, and also said he would honour an election promise to allow disgraced former dictator Ferdinand Marcos be buried in a cemetery in Manila where some of the country’s leaders are buried.
He also wants to reintroduce the death penalty, something opposed by the church, and has said that repeat offenders should be hanged more than once.
