Philippines’ new police leader vows to pursue drug war
MANILA: The newly named top police commander of the Philippines pledged Friday to keep up President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody anti-drug war despite fresh international condemnation over the killings.
Director General Oscar Albayalde, who was sworn in Thursday, will now lead the narcotics crackdown that has killed thousands since Duterte came to power just under two years ago.
“How to sustain the drug war? In order to sustain it, we will not change anything,” Albayalde told reporters at his first press conference as commander.
He took over from Ronaldo Dela Rosa, who retired with hero’s honours this week after helping Duterte launch the bloody crackdown.
“Why would we stop a programme that is very effective?” Albayalde added, citing “very good momentum and gains” since the alleged police killing last year of a teenage boy wrongly accused of drug crimes that sparked street protests.
Police on Friday announced another 13 alleged drug suspects were killed in a sweep that also led to the arrest of 58 people.
Albayalde’s comments came as the Philippines pushed back against a European Union Parliament resolution voted on Thursday that criticised the crackdown, the latest international condemnation of it.
The EU lawmakers called “on the government of the Philippines to put an immediate end to the extrajudicial killings in the pretext of a ‘war on drugs’”. — AFP