Duterte offers reward for capture of police officers linked to drugs

Philippine president vows no let-up in ‘war on drugs’

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday promised rewards running to tens of thousands of dollars for information leading to the capture of police officers protecting drug syndicates and warned corrupt officials they would face “a day of reckoning”.

In a National Heroes Day speech, Duterte said there would be no let-up in a “war on drugs” in which — according to police figures — more than 1,900 people have been killed since he came to power two months ago. Police say the toll of about 36 people a day is a result of drug dealers resisting arrest or gang feuds.

Duterte railed against critics who have complained that the poor who trade drugs to make a living are being targeted by the police, but added that army generals, city mayors, governors and police involved in the drug trade must also be stopped.

“I consider the fight against drugs a war, there is a crisis in this country, it is drugs... it has infected every nook and corner,” he said in the speech to retired and serving soldiers, government officials and foreign diplomats.

Singling out corrupt policemen known as ‘ninjas’, who take pay-offs from drug lords, Duterte said he was placing a 2 million peso (Dh157,936 or $43,000) bounty on their heads, telling their colleagues to “squeal on your friends”.

Duterte last month named about 160 officials, judges, police and soldiers who he said were protecting drug traffickers or selling drugs in their communities.

The US, a close ally of the Philippines, said last week it was “deeply concerned” about the reports of extrajudicial drug killings and it urged Duterte’s government to ensure that law-enforcement efforts “comply with its human rights obligation”.