DUTERTE TO CONTINUE CRUSADE VS ILLEGAL DRUGS AFTER PRESIDENCY

President recalls how drug lords could escape justice by bribing the police, prosecutor, the fiscal, and even the judges

Pagka mayor nako, nidagan ko – prosecutor ko, fiscal ko eh – nakitaan nako ang dula ba sa kuan. Usahay paliton ang prosecutor, ang fiscal. Usahay paliton ang huwes. Usahay ang ebidensiya niadto moabot sa ako mao daw nadakpan, pagtan-aw ngadto sa korte, tawas diay kay ang p ***** i **** mga pulis nabayran man. RODRIGO R. DUTERTE

President

EVEN as he retires from politics, President Rodrigo Duterte, who is set to step down from the presidency on June 30, 2022, vowed to continue his crusade against illegal drugs by going back to roaming the streets to look for criminals.

“Karon og di nako Presidente, wa gyuy magbuot nako. Mag-motor ko o suroy-suroy ko (But now that I won’t be President anymore, nobody can dictate what I do. I will go riding a motorcycle or go around),” Duterte said during the miting de avance of Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod-Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HTL-HNP) in San Pedro Street, Davao City on Friday, May 6.

Duterte, a former mayor of the city for 22 years, had been going around the city on his motorbike. He also drove a taxi at night to patrol around the city undercover, and make sure his constituents are safe.

The President recalled how drug lords could escape justice by bribing the police, prosecutor, the fiscal, and even the judges.

“Pagka mayor nako, nidagan ko – prosecutor ko, fiscal ko eh – nakita-an nako ang dula ba sa kuan. Usahay paliton ang prosecutor, ang fiscal. Usahay paliton ang huwes. Usahay ang ebidensiya niadto moabot sa ako mao daw nadakpan, pagtan-aw ngadto sa korte, tawas diay kay ang p ***** i **** mga pulis nabayran man (When I ran for mayor – I was a prosecutor, I was a fiscal – I saw how they played with the… Sometimes they will pay the prosecutor, the fiscal. Sometimes they’ll pay the judge. And sometimes the evidence turned over to me in court is just tawas, alum, because the policemen, those sons of b ****** were paid as well),” he said.

When he assumed mayor in 1988, Duterte said that he will be a strict mayor and that he would build a city that is comfortable for the people to live in.

“Giingon nako ayaw gub-a ang akong siyudad og droga labi na gyud ang akong mga anak, among anak, kay og imo nang buhaton ngari sa Davao, patyon ta gyud ka (I told them that I would build a city that is comfortable for the people to live in. I warned them not to destroy my city with drugs especially my children, our children. If you do that here in Davao, I will really kill you),” Duterte said.

Duterte, had promised its “war on drugs” during his 2016 campaign. In 2016, he vowed to eradicate the illegal drug trade in six months. However, in his 2021 State of the Nation Address, admitted that he would be “fighting (his) own government” as nine police generals were involved in the illegal trade.

The President, meanwhile, advised in jest his youngest son, incumbent Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, who is running for mayor in the May 9 elections, that if he didn’t know how to kill, he’d better learn it fast.