Pubdate: Wed, 10 Aug 2016
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2016 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Jonathan Kaiman, Los Angeles Times

FILIPINO OFFICIALS LINKED TO DRUGS TURN SELVES IN

In a televised speech Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte, speaking in 
the city of Davao, named 150 officials that he said were involved in 
the country's drug trade, including members of Congress, police 
officials, five retired and current generals and at least seven 
judges, and gave them a 24-hour deadline to surrender to police. 
Several have turned themselves in, including 18 mayors and 31 police 
officials, according to police statistics.

"There is no due process in my mouth," Duterte said. "You can't stop 
me, and I'm not afraid even if you say that I can end up in jail."

For the accused, the stakes are high. Duterte, who took office on 
June 30, has pledged to rid the country of crime within six months by 
assassinating thousands of suspected criminals - or at least 
authorizing the police, military, and others to kill them on his behalf.

Since then, at least 564 people have been killed, according to the 
Philippine Inquirer's "Kill List," a comprehensive resource on the 
drug war's death toll. Some were killed by vigilantes, others by 
military and police. Many were found next to signs reading "pusher" 
or "I am a drug addict," their heads wrapped in tape.

Despite its brutality, the crackdown has been enormously popular in 
the Philippines, which has struggled with endemic drug use for 
decades. Yet human rights groups, foreign governments, other Filipino 
politicians and church leaders have cautioned that it could undermine 
the counPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte has named 150 officials 
he says are involved in the country's drug trade. try's democratic systems.

"Extrajudicial killings are not uncommon in the Philippines - they 
happen in Manila and other places across the country," said one 
Filipino human rights worker who requested anonymity, citing concerns 
about his personal safety. "This is unprecedented because of the 
(coordinated) policy, and because the sheer number of people being 
killed is just enormous ... we now have a total breakdown in regard 
for due process, it's a massive violation of civil liberties."

"(Duterte) is probably the most popular president we've ever had," he 
said, adding that the leader may be more widely revered than Corazon 
Aquino, who restored democracy to the country in 1986 after 20 years 
of President Ferdinand Marcos' authoritarian rule. "I've been 
watching this issue (for years) and I've never seen this kind of 
support for something so horrible from a human rights perspective."

On Monday, Elizabeth Trudeau, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, 
said that Washington is "concerned" about the extrajudicial killings. 
"We believe in rule of law. We believe in due process. We believe in 
respect for universal human rights," she told reporters.

Duterte's blacklist offered no evidence, according to local media. 
Several names were incomplete, and at least one of the accused - a 
judge - was later discovered to be long dead.

Several blacklisted officials have responded to Duterte's accusations 
by defending themselves, while also voicing support for his initiatives.

One of them, former Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, posted his defense to 
Facebook. "Even how untrue this accusation is, should this be the way 
and the necessary step to win the war against drugs, I will fully 
cooperate with the authorities to immediately clear my name and we 
trust that we will be given the opportunity to present our side and 
prove our innocence," he wrote. "My unwavering support for President 
Duterte's campaign will continue."

Duterte defended his blacklist to reporters Tuesday. "My words (are) 
not accusatorial, it is not a criminal information," he said. "It's 
just my word against the others, because I have the duty to tell the public."

The police, meanwhile, have expressed uncertainty about how to manage 
the wave of surrenders.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom