Duterte praises police killings of 32, urges more
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday urged police to kill dozens of drug suspects every day, as he praised officers who shot dead 32 people this week in “shock and awe” raids.
Duterte’s incendiary comments came as he acknowledged major problems in his drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives, admitting he could not win it as quickly as promised and lamenting a corrupt police force.
In one of the deadliest operations of the drug war, police reported killing 32 people in raids on Monday on suspected drug traffickers in Bulacan province, which neighbours the capital of Manila.
“The ones who died recently in Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid, that was good,” Duterte said in a speech to an anti-crime organisation that has backed the drug war.
“If we could kill another 32 every day, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country.”
Earlier in the day Bulacan Police Chief Romeo Caramat held a press conference to publicise the raids, in which 109 suspects were also arrested.
“We wanted to shock and awe these drug personalities,” Caramat said.
“Other drug personalities will think twice before continuing with their drug trade.”
Caramat insisted the police had killed the suspects in self defence, adding that pistols and grenades had been seized in the raids.
“We know we have done nothing wrong,” Caramat said.
He later said that no police had been killed or wounded. When asked how it was possible there had been no police wounded if the raiding officers had been acting in self-defence, Caramat said: “Don’t ask me to explain.”
Police have killed 3,450 people in similar drug raids since Duterte came to office in the middle of last year, according to government data.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data. Duterte said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts.
Yesterday Duterte repeated that there were no quick solutions to the drug war, as he claimed not to have known before becoming president the extent of corruption in institutions such as the police force and customs.
“Little did I know that the police who are suppose to be on my side, they were on the other side,” Duterte said.
“And little did I realise the very agency I was relying on to protect us from the smuggling of drugs from abroad, was the one importing the drugs.”