‘DRUGS CAN DESTROY US’

Menace can be combatted with political will and cooperation, says Duterte

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte warned Southeast Asian leaders yesterday that they were facing a “massive” illegal drug menace that could destroy their societies, as he called for a united response.

Duterte, who has faced international condemnation for his crackdown on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, also insisted that outsiders should not interfere in Southeast Asia’s affairs.

“The illegal drug trade is massive, but it is not impregnable,” Duterte said in a speech to open the Asean leaders’ summit here.

“With political will and cooperation, it can be dismantled. It can be destroyed before it destroys our societies.”

Duterte urged the leaders to be “resolute in realising a drug-free Asean”.

Duterte was elected last year largely on a law-and-order platform in which he promised to eradicate illegal drugs in the Philippines.

Since Duterte took office 10 months ago, police have reported killing 2,724 people as part of his anti-drug campaign.

A Filipino lawyer filed a complaint this week against Duterte at the International Criminal Court, accusing him of “mass murder” and alleging that as many as 8,000 people had died in the drug war.

Duterte has relentlessly railed against criticism of his drug war, which Amnesty International and other rights groups have warned may amount to a crime against humanity.

He said last year he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of addicts in his quest to stop the Philippines from becoming a narco-state, and repeatedly insisted human rights should not stand in the way of eradicating drugs.

In his speech to Asean leaders, Duterte highlighted the bloc’s tradition of “non-interference”.

He did this while talking about relations with the United States and the European Union, which had expressed concern about alleged extrajudicial killings.

“Dialogue relations can be made more productive, constructive if the valued principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of the Asean member states is observed,” Duterte said.

Duterte had last year branded then US president Barack Obama a “son of a w **** ” for criticising the drug war, and more recently called European lawmakers “crazies” for issuing a statement condemning the killings.

Observers said in the lead-up to the summit that Asean leaders were unlikely to criticise Duterte.

Some Asean leaders expressed support for Duterte.

“We also share your country’s concerns on the devastating effects of drugs upon society, and I understand your personal resolve in combatting it,” Bolkiah said as Duterte hosted him at the presidential palace on Thursday.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose government has executed drug traffickers, expressed his personal affection for Duterte because they had “so much in common”.

“I believe that you and I are not fancy people.

“I believe that you and I are driven by healthy common sense and by love for our people,” Joko said on Friday. AFP