‘32 good, kill more drug suspects’
Manila, Aug. 16: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday urged the 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.
Mr 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 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,” Mr Duterte said in a speech to an anticrime organisation that has backed the drug war.
“If we could kill another 32 everyday, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country.” Earlier in the day Bulacan police chief Romeo Caramat held a press conference in Manila to publicise the raids, in which 109 suspects were also arrested.
“We wanted to shock and awe these drug personalities,” Mr Caramat said. “Other drug personalities will think twice before continuing with their drug trade.”
Mr 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,” Mr Caramat said. He said 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, Mr Caramat said: “Don’t ask me to explain”.
The cops killed 3,450 people in similar drug raids since Mr Duterte came to office in the middle of last year.