President vows no respite in drug war
MANILA: Despite international and domestic criticism, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he will not stop his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs and warns that addicts and dealers have two choices — jail or hell.
Thousands of suspects have perished during the anti-drug campaign he launched after being sworn into office in June last year, sparking widespread criticism and threats of prosecution.
“Do not try to scare me with prison or the International Court of Justice,” he said yesterday in his annual state of the nation address. “I’m willing to go to prison for the rest of my life.”
He reiterated his plea that Congress reimpose the death penalty for drug offenders and others.
“The fight will not stop until those who deal in [drugs] understand that they have to stop because the alternatives are either jail or hell,” Mr Duterte said, to applause from his national police chief, Ronald del Rosa, and other supporters in the audience.
Waving red flags, several thousand leftwing protesters marched with an effigy of Mr Duterte to the House of Representatives yesterday to demand he deliver on promises made in his first state of the nation speech last year, from holding peace talks with communist insurgents to improving internet speed.
Riot police, unarmed to underscore a policy of maximum tolerance toward demonstrators, separated the protesters from a smaller group of Duterte supporters outside the heavily guarded building, where Duterte delivered this year’s speech.
Inside the hall, left-wing legislators sought ingenious ways to protest. Emmie de Jesus, who represents the Gabriela women’s party-list group, wore native clothes with beadwork reading “Regular Jobs Now”, a criticism of contractual work without benefits.
Another lawmaker, Arlene Brosas, wore a black dress with a handpainted message by a former political prisoner saying “No to Martial Law”.
Mr Duterte won congressional approval on Saturday for an extension of martial law in the south to deal with the siege of Marawi by Islamist militants, the worst crisis he has faced since taking power.