Pubdate: Thu, 29 Dec 2016
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2016 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82

PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT DUTERTE CONFIRMS HE KILLED PEOPLE AS MAYOR

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs

Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs faces criticism for its brutal efforts that
have left more than 3,000 drug users and dealers dead.

Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs faces criticism for its brutal efforts that
have left more than 3,000 drug users and dealers dead.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte affirmed on Friday that he shot dead
three people as mayor, dismissing any uncertainty and displaying no
remorse.

"I don't really know how many bullets from my gun went inside their
bodies," he said. "It happened. I cannot lie about it."

His confirmation, reported by the Philippine Star, followed boasts to
business leaders on Monday that he killed criminal suspects as the Davao
City mayor to set a precedent for his police officers.

"I used to do it personally, just to show to the guys that if I can do it,
why can't you?" he said, according to a video posted by the Star.

"I'd go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I
would just patrol the streets looking for trouble," he said. "I was really
looking for a confrontation, so I could kill."

The president elaborated on the shootings Friday, calling them incidents
with hostage-takers that saved people's lives.

But his comments already had prompted a warning from U.S. officials and
handed critics ammunition to demand his ouster.

The United States on Thursday announced it had deferred a decision to send
the Philippines a major economic aid package. White House spokesman Josh
Earnest called his remarks "deeply troubling" and "certainly at odds with
the Philippine government's stated commitment to due process and rule of
law."

Sen. Leila de Lima, the president's most high-profile opponent, told CNN
that his admissions amount to "mass murder" and grounds for impeachment.

Duterte, instigator of a bloody drug war during his presidency that has
led to the death of more than 3,000 people, is known for his outlandish
statements. He has compared himself to Hitler, declared he was not a
killer and then threatened to kill officers who disobeyed him, and hinted
at his own overuse of a powerful painkiller.

He has mentioned killing criminal suspects before, but his repeated
remarks this week are the strongest declarations since he took office in
June.

Duterte's popularity has only increased since then, and it's unclear what
effect his comments will have throughout the island nation. Philippine
officials who support the president have tried to play them down.

"The president always resorts to hyperbole," Justice Secretary Vitaliano
Aguirre II said on Wednesday, according to the Star. "He always
exaggerates just to put his message across."

Duterte's confirmation that he had killed challenged such claims.

"I would not have any second thoughts about cutting your head off," he
told the paper on Friday, speaking about drug dealers. "Should I allow it
to continue? And be like the Latin American states?"

Meyers is a special Los Angeles Times correspondent.
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