Pubdate: Wed, 03 Aug 2016
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

DEATHS RISE IN PHILIPPINE WAR ON DRUGS

MANILA, Philippines - Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the 
Philippines just over a month ago, promising to get tough on crime by 
having the police and the military kill drug suspects, 420 people 
have been killed in the campaign, according to tallies of police 
reports by the local news media.

Most were killed in confrontations with the police, while 154 were 
killed by unidentified vigilantes. This has prompted 114,833 people 
to turn themselves in, as either drug addicts or dealers, since 
Duterte took office, according to national police logs.

Addressing Congress last week in his first State of the Nation 
address, Duterte reiterated his take-no-prisoners approach, ordering 
the police to "triple" their efforts against crime.

"We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and 
the last pusher have surrendered or been put behind bars or below the 
ground, if they so wish," he said.

But human rights groups, Roman Catholic activists and the families of 
many of those killed during the crackdown say that the vast majority 
were poor Filipinos, many of whom had nothing to do with the drug 
trade. They were not accorded an accusation and a trial, but were 
simply shot down in the streets, the critics say.

"These are not the wealthy and powerful drug lords who actually have 
meaningful control over supply of drugs on the streets in the 
Philippines," said Phelim Kine, a deputy director of Human Rights 
Watch in Asia.

Indirectly acknowledging criticism that his policies trample over the 
standard judicial process, Duterte said that human rights "cannot be 
used as a shield to destroy the country."

He has called for drug users and sellers to turn themselves in or 
risk being hunted down, a threat backed up by the bodies piling up 
near daily on the streets of Philippine cities.

The approach appears to be driving down crime: The police say that 
they have arrested more than 2,700 people on charges related to using 
or selling illegal drugs, and that crime nationwide has fallen 13 
percent since the election, to 46,600 reported crimes in June, from 
52,950 in May.

Duterte's crackdown has been hugely popular. Filipinos, pummeled by 
years of violent crime and corrupt, ineffective law enforcement, 
handed him an overwhelming victory in the May presidential election, 
and have largely embraced his approach.

A national opinion poll conducted after his election and just before 
he took office found that 84 percent of Filipinos had "much trust" in him.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom