Duterte dares European Union to cut ties

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he hoped a shift to target big networks in his war on drugs would satisfy “bleeding hearts” and interfering Western states fixated on the high death toll in his brutal crackdown.

In a televised speech, Duterte read a memorandum that removed police from the drug war and placed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in charge, then launched a curseladen tirade at foreign critics of a campaign that has killed thousands of Filipinos.

Duterte appeared to target some European parliamentarians among a group called the Progressive Alliance, which on Monday said it was “extremely alarmed” by the drug war and warned the Philippines risked losing trade privileges because of unchecked abuses by police during his signature campaign.

“I am not interested anymore in using any other (agency), just let PDEA,” he said.

“They seem to want it, I want, as a last word, maybe this would suffice for the stupid European Union guys. They were all focused on how many deaths.”

The European Union delegation in Manila issued a statement clarifying that it had no involvement in the visit by the Progressive Alliance.

It was unclear whether the decision to change tactics in the antidrug campaign was influenced by Western pressure.

The administration said yesterday that the shift was to target “big fish”, moving away from street level operations to go after big networks and suppliers.

Police disbanded all 18 regional antidrugs units yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the new aim was for PDEA to target “higher echelons of the syndicates, as well as their protectors in government”.

That message will sound familiar, with similar announcements a year ago when a new phase of the drug war was launched to catch producers and suppliers.

Critics say that never happened and smalltime dealers and users and the urban poor continued to bear the brunt of the 3,900 killings by police.

Police say armed suspects resisted arrest in every one of those cases and they deny allegations victims were executed.

Duterte was furious yesterday and appeared to suggest that European lawmakers had warned that the Philippines could lose its UN membership.

Duterte lashed out at Western powers who colonised countries, started wars, “stole” oil from the Middle East, and said they had imported terrorism to their own shores.

He dared them to cut ties with the Philippines and have their ambassadors leave within 24 hours.

He said his new alliances with Russia and China – UN Security Council permanent members – would keep the Philippines in the United Nations.

“We will be excluded in the UN? Go ahead. You are interfering in our affairs because we are poor,” he said.

“You give money and then you start to orchestrate what things should be done. We are past the colonisation stage.”

Duterte’s spokesman Abella later clarified that Duterte’s “expression of outrage” was a reaction to the Progressive Alliance, which had “falsely portrayed itself as an EU mission” and made irresponsible statements.

The strategic shift in his war on drugs comes at a difficult time for Duterte, who though still hugely popular, saw a sharp decline in ratings according to a poll released on Sunday.

It also followed an antiDuterte protest last month by thousands of people and rare public outrage over the killing by police of a teenager. Several surveys released recently show doubts among Filipinos about the validity of police accounts, and whether victims were all drug dealers.

With only a fraction of the manpower and budget of the police, PDEA will have a challenge to keep up the intensity of the crackdown. — Reuters

We will be excluded in the UN? Go ahead. You are interfering in our affairs because we are poor.

Rodrigo Duterte