President’s backing for vigilante death squads leaves nearly 2,000 people dead

ON THE day he was sworn into office, Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to “go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful”.

Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users are dead and morgues continue to fill up. But faced with criticism across the world, Mr Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work.

According to a survey early last month, he has the support of nearly 91 per cent of Filipinos.

National police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing this week that police have recorded more than 1,900 dead, including 756 suspected drug dealers and users who were gunned down. More than 1,000 other deaths are under investigation, and some of them may not be drug-related, he said.

Mr Duterte’s death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humour have entranced Filipinos living on the margins of society.

Economic planning secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings “may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good”, a sentiment echoed by Duterte supporters.