Pubdate: Sat, 06 Aug 2016 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2016 Associated Press Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 LEADER STANDS BY CALL TO KILL DRUG SUSPECTS MANILA (AP) - President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged abuses have occurred in his war on illegal drugs, which has left more than 400 people dead in a month and alarmed rights activists. But Duterte refused to back down from a shoot-to-kill order for drug suspects. Duterte said in a speech late Thursday that most drug dealers and addicts slain in gunbattles with police had put up a fight, but added that he was sure some were "salvaged," a local slang for extrajudicial killings usually by law officers. In the case of illegal killings, Duterte said the government will investigate. "They really fight back, I know that," Duterte said in a speech in Davao city, where he built a name as a mayor for his tough approach to crime before becoming president. "I'm sure there are some who were salvaged, I am also sure of that." Early Friday, he told reporters that he gave "shoot to kill" orders against drug dealers, including politicians involved in the illicit trade. "I'll really have you killed. Look at what you're doing to the Philippines and I'll forgive you?" Duterte said, apparently enraged after visiting a town police chief who was shot in the chest by a suspected drug dealer and rushed to a Davao hospital. "My order is shoot to kill you. I don't care about human rights, you better believe me," he said. Duterte's centerpiece anticrime drive, focused on an ambitious campaign promise to end the widespread drug problem in six months, has left more than 400 drug suspects dead, many of them either in gunfights with police or under suspect circumstances. More than 4,400 have been arrested, police said. The unprecedented killings have scared more than half a million drug users and dealers who gave themselves up to police, officials said. Duterte has said he was considering setting aside areas in military camps nationwide to build rehabilitation centers for those who surrender. In recent days, eight suspected drug dealers were gunned down in separate clashes with police. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom