Pubdate: Tue, 03 Jan 2017
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2017 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Author: Jennifer Newton

PRESIDENT DUTERTE'S BLOODY WAR ON DRUGS HAS CLAIMED 6K LIVES IN 6 MONTHS

I've only just started! Filipino President Duterte's bloody war on drugs
has claimed 6,000 lives and seen 900,000 addicts surrender in just six
months -- as he claims his country is now safer for normal people

* The Philippines government has claimed it is winning the war on drugs
after a brutal crackdown on dealing

* 6,000 people have been killed by police or vigilantes in a six month
campaign ordered by President Duterte

* The Filipino government has said that thanks to the crackdown, the
country is now a safer place for residents

* But despite the numbers of dead rising, harrowing new images have shown
bodies still littering the streets

The Phillipines government has claimed it is winning the war on drugs and
that the streets are now safer despite new harrowing images of dead bodies
littering the country's roads.

President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to rid the country of drug pushers and
in a six month brutal campaign, more almost 6,000 people have been killed
in police raids and at the hands of vigilantes.

It has also seen in surrender of more than 900,000 drug addicts, with many
put in overcrowded jails and the confiscation of billions of pounds worth
of illicit drugs.

The body of a suspected drug dealer lies dead in a street after they were
gunned down by unidentified men in Mandaluyong City, east of Manila

Another man, who is thought to have been a drug pusher was also killed in
Manila by unidentified gunmen on Christmas Eve

A police investigator takes pictures of the man's body after officers
cordoned off the scene after he was shot dead in the street

But despite the number of dead rising the Filipino government said it is
making headway in ridding the country of drugs, despite pledges by Duterte
to do this within six months.

Government spokesman Ernesto Abella said the government had come to regard
drugs not only as a national security but also a 'public health issue'
which resulted in the building of rehabilitation facilities all over the
country.

He also added: 'Index crime rates have lowered significantly, telling us
that majority of those crimes have been related to drugs.

'So in a sense, it is a question of being able to see it with the right
perspective. If you hear anecdotal reports of people, they actually say
how much they deeply appreciate the fact that they can go home safer.'

[photo] A crowd of people gather as funeral parlour workers gather up the
body of an alleged drug addict who was killed in Manila

[photo] The body of the man is then carried away and put into the back of
a van ready to be taken to be buried by his family

[photo] Two police officers make notes at the scene of a shooting in a
dark street north of Manila after discovering a dead body

[photo] Police investigators gather evidence after a police operation
against illegal drugs in Navotas City, north of Manila

But despite the government claiming victory, new images from the country's
capital Manila have shown yet more dead bodies littering the streets as
grieving relatives bury their dead.

Another picture shows suspected drug pushers rounded into already crowded
cells in the country's congested jails.

It comes as Duterte has previously declared he does not need martial law
during his campaign but has also threatened to impose it during a row with
the chief justice of the Supreme Court who had criticised his drug war.

But Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, who ministers to the Tondo
slum district where many drug suspects have been killed by police, said
the country was now under virtual martial rule due to the crackdown.

Filipino women cry and embrace after an anti-drugs operation in a slum in
Manila saw their relatives shot dead by police

A man plays with a toy gun outside the wake of alleged drug pushers on
Christmas Eve in Mandaluyong City, east of Manila

Malaysian national Nasir Uddin Bin Mohd Hasnan, an alleged drug courier,
covers his face after his arrest for allegedly smuggling cocaine

'It is not necessary that you have a declaration of martial law to have
martial law,' the bishop said.

Another prominent critic, Senator Francis Pangilinan, said Duterte's
shifting position on martial rule was not reassuring.

'He said a few days ago that martial law was stupid and didn't work, and
yet now he says something else. His lack of clarity is a serious cause for
concern.'

The mother of Kristine Joy Sailog, mourns at her daughter's wake after the
girl was killed by stray bullets on Christmas Eve in a shoot out

A Filipino boy looks on as mourners bury the coffin of a slain alleged
drug dealer, who was killed in a police operation against illegal drugs

Duterte's allies who control parliament have backed his proposal for it to
convene as a 'constituent assembly' before he leaves office in 2022 to
change the centralised government to a federal system.

A fiery populist politician, he was elected by a landslide last May
largely on a vow to kill 100,000 criminals, has cultivated an image as a
no-nonsense leader.

'These sons of ws are destroying our children. I warn you, don't go into
that, even if you're a policeman, because I will really kill you,' the
president told an audience during a speech in the country's capital,
Manila.

He vowed on one occasion during the election campaign that 100,000 people
would die, and so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish
there would grow fat from feeding on them

Duterte has also made reviving the death penalty in the mainly Catholic
nation his top legislative priority as part of his war on crime.

Armed police patrol a slum in the Philippines capital Manila and children
look on in horror after witnessing an anti-drugs operation

An elderly Filipino woman reacts in horror after seeing a dead body
outside her home during a police operation against drugs

Residents in Pasig city in Manila are rounded up and told to sit on the
ground as a Filipino policeman talks to them about drugs

A Filipino man sits on the ground after he was rounded up for verification
by the police during an anti-drug operation at an informal settlers
community in Pasig City

An operative from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) mixes
chemicals during the destruction of seized materials and paraphernalia
used for manufacturing shabu, a cheap form of methamphetamine, at a
warehouse in Manila

But speaking during a visit to the northern Philippines last month, the
71-year-old lamented how the constitution tied the president's hands in
dealing with security crises including war.

'If you have martial law, only one person should be in control,' Duterte
said.

'If there's invasion or war and I declare martial law, I cannot proceed on
and on to deal with the trouble as I still have to go to Congress, go to
the Supreme Court,' he added.

'That's why that needs to be replaced.'

Filipinos arrested during a drug buy-bust operation wait to be brought to
a police station for verification at a slum area in Manila

Convicted dealers are then sent to jail where they are forced to share
tiny cells with other inmates. Pictured is the country's crowded Quezon
City jail

OUTSPOKEN LEADER: PRESIDENT DUTERTE IN QUOTES

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who has become known as an
outspoken leader

Comparing his drugs war to the Holocaust - 'Hitler massacred three million
Jews. Now, there is three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter
them. At least Germany had Hitler. The Philippines wouldn't.'

Insulting President Obama after he criticised the violence in the
Philippines - 'You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions
and statements. Son of a w, I will curse you in that forum. Instead of
helping us, the first to criticize is this State Department, so you can go
to hell, Mr Obama, you can go to hell.'

Reacting to an EU resolution condemning his drugs crackdown - 'I say to
them, f* you. They're taking the high ground to assuage their feelings of
guilt. But who did I kill? Assuming it to be true, 1,700, who are they?
Criminals. You call that genocide. Now the EU has the gall to condemn me.
So I repeat it. F* you.'

Criticising Pope Francis after his visit to the country caused heavy
traffic in Manila - 'We were affected by the traffic. It took us five
hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They
answered, the Pope. I wanted to call him: "Pope, son of a w, go home. Do
not visit us again".'

Pleading to rid the country of drugs during his election campaign -
'Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace,
I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and
do-nothings, you better go out. Because I'd kill you. I'll dump all of you
into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.'

On admitting to killing a man by throwing him out of a helicopter - 'I've
done that, why won't I do it again?'
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