Duterte: Life is sacred

Even as the government wages a “harsher” war on illegal drugs, President Duterte recently said he considers life as sacred and does not want to kill people.

The President said killing another person was an "unsettling thought" that could hunt the perpetrator for the rest of his life.

"Look, itong mga human rights, I agree with you. Life is sacred," Duterte said during the signing of the universal health care law in Malacañang last Wednesday.

"We do not want to kill people. It’s an unsettling thought when you sleep at night especially if you commit a mismatch or nagkamali ka and it happened and it will bug you all throughout your life," he added.

The President, however, defended the government's intensified campaign against illegal drugs, saying he only wanted to protect the Filipinos from such national security threat.

Duterte, in declaring the war on drugs, said he would not allow the country to deteriorate and become a failed state due to illegal drugs. He was concerned about the involvement of two foreign drug cartels following the seizure of cocaine packages in the country’s shores.

"Now that I am President, my duty reduced in two sentences will be something like: To protect the people and preserve the Republic of the Philippines. That I will intend to do and more. Hindi sa panahon ko ha. Not the New People's Army, not the Abu Sayyaf, not the drug people," Duterte said.

In stepping up the campaign against drug offenders, Duterte insisted that the people must be able to walk along the streets free from harm and other threats.