Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jul 2016
Source: Straits Times (Singapore)
Copyright: 2016 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.
Contact:  http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/429
Author: Raul Dancel, Philippines Correspondent In Manila

DUTERTE DEFENDS DEADLY ANTI-CRIME WAR

S. China Sea Gets Brief Mention in His State of the Nation Address

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday defended his deadly 
anti-crime war even as he enumerated a host of big measures to bring 
economic relief to wage earners, conclude peace with communist and 
Muslim rebels, fix infrastructure bottlenecks and improve 
disbursement of government resources through a shift to federalism.

"We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and 
the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars - or below the 
ground if they so wish," Mr Duterte said in his first State of the 
Nation Address before Congress.

Mr Duterte, 71, swept to victory in the May 9 elections on a promise 
to eradicate crime and corruption.

He has cheered on as security forces and unnamed vigilante groups 
began shooting down suspected drug kingpins and their dealers.

Since he was sworn into office on June 30, more than 240 men linked 
to the narcotics trade have turned up dead, according to police.

Addressing concerns that his war on crime has led to a culture of 
impunity, he said: "Human rights must work to uplift human dignity. 
But human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy 
the country, my country, your country," he said.

Mr Duterte said, turning to criminals: "If you do not want to die, 
you do not want to get hurt, do not run to a priest or invoke human 
rights. They will not to be able to stop death... I keep saying, do 
not do it because we will have a problem."

Mr Richard Javad Heydarian, a political analyst at De La Salle 
University, said Mr Duterte's take on human rights is nuanced, as it 
leans closer to Asian values.

"For him, human rights must be in harmony with the interest of the 
community. It is more collectivist, unlike in the West where the 
focus is on the individual," he said.

In his speech, which was expected to last for just 38 minutes but ran 
on for an hour and a half, Mr Duterte also addressed a festering 
dispute with China over the South China Sea, but only briefly.

He said he will "strongly affirm and respect the outcome" of a case 
that handed the Philippines a sweeping verdict over China. On July 
12, an Arbitral Tribunal at The Hague struck down Beijing's expansive 
claims over the South China Sea.

In a surprising move, Mr Duterte declared a "unilateral ceasefire" 
with communist rebels.

Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison, a former 
professor of Mr Duterte, said he "welcomes" this step, and that Mr 
Duterte can expect a "positive response".

Mr Duterte also said he will push for a stalled law granting Muslim 
rebels an autonomous region in the southern island group of Mindanao.

Among the other points Mr Duterte addressed in his speech, he 
promised to cut personal and corporate income taxes, and push for a 
federal form of government, as well as a controversial birth control 
law opposed by the Catholic Church.

He vowed to cut bureaucratic red tape and asked lawmakers to grant 
him emergency powers to deal with metropolitan Manila's worsening 
traffic problems.

Mr Duterte said he would review the Philippines' commitment to cut 
carbon emissions under a historic climate deal concluded in Paris 
last year, and backed his Environment Minister who had been cracking 
down on errant mining firms.

Veteran journalist Marites Vitug said while Mr Duterte's speech was 
expansive and heavy on bullet points, it lacked the big picture "and 
maybe the long view".

"Everything seems subsumed under the war on drugs," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom