Mayor killed in drug war
Leader of Philippine town had been branded a suspect in president’s anti-drug fight
MANILA— After President Rodrigo Duterte publicly named him as a drug suspect last summer, the mayor of a small Philippine town said he was not worried.
“If you are not guilty, why should you be afraid?” the mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, said in August.
On Friday, he and nine other men were shot dead at a highway police checkpoint, in what police described as an anti-drug operation.
Dimaukom and his companions are among about 2,000 people who have been killed in Duterte’s campaign against drugs since he took office on June 30.
According to police, Dimaukom, the mayor of Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, a town of about 20,000 on the restive southern island of Mindanao, was killed after his guards opened fire on officers.
Chief Inspector Elias Colonia, a spokesperson for the local police, said authorities had information that Dimaukom and his group were transporting a shipment of shabu, a cheap form of methamphetamine.
According to police, a checkpoint was set up along his expected route. The mayor and his party approached at about 4 a.m., Colonia said.
“The suspects were heavily armed and fired upon the law enforcers, which prompted them to fire back,” according to a police report.
“As a result, 10 malefactors were wounded and brought to a hospital for treatment but were declared dead upon arrival.”
Most of those killed in the anti-drug campaign to date have been poor and on the margins of society. Suspected of using or selling methamphetamine, they were shot by police, ostensibly after they resisted arrest.
But in August, Duterte identified a number of officials he said were involved in the illegal drug trade, including judges, police officers, military officials, mayors and members of Congress, and threatened to go after them. That group included Dimaukom.
On Thursday, Duterte said his campaign had entered a new phase and would now target such officials.
Contending that “narco-politics” had taken hold in the country, he said that he had compiled the names of 5,000 village leaders and 6,000 police officers involved in the narcotics business.
In what appeared to be a threat to kill everyone on his list, he added, “The human rights people will commit suicide, if I finish these all.”