Although President Duterte's police methods have drawn concern in various parts of the world, even those who deplore his methods at home are praying that his 'war on drugs' would somehow succeed. However, international experts who have done extensive studies on the global drug wars are deeply pessimistic; they describe the "war on drugs" as a failed strategy, and are calling for a major policy "rethink."

These experts have not condemned the extrajudicial killings, the shoot-on-sight and "surrender or else" orders in the present drug war, as some UN officials, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and certain international publications have. Their studies precede DU30's war by at least a couple of years.

[continues 1824 words]

THE Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has withdrawn its support for President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs, which the party described as having become "anti-people and anti-democratic."

"In line with standing orders, the New People's Army (NPA) will continue to intensify its operations to arrest and disarm drug trade operators and protectors. However, these will no longer be considered as cooperative with the Duterte regime's undemocratic and anti-people 'war on drugs,'" according to a statement by the CPP released on Friday.

[continues 359 words]

If the government wants charges to stick against public officials linked to the illegal drug trade, it should protect witnesses at least against high-value suspects.

Last Wednesday Police Officer 2 Ryan Casiban was found dead at a firing range in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu with only his pants on. The rest of his uniform plus his service M-16 rifle and police motorcycle were found in another area of the city.

Investigators reportedly said Casiban was among those who identified police generals Marcelo Garbo and Vicente Loot as protectors of the illegal drug trade. The two are among the five police generals, three of them still in the active service, who were publicly identified by President Duterte as coddlers of drug trafficking. All five have denied the accusation.

[continues 218 words]

A TOTAL of 3,257 extrajudicial killings (EJKs) were committed during the Marcos dictatorship. In contrast, there were 805 drug-related fatalities from May 10 (when Rodrigo Duterte emerged winner of the presidential election) to Aug. 12, per the INQUIRER count.

If the current rate continues, the total number of EJKs for the six years of the Duterte administration will end up about 700 percent more than the killings committed during the 14 years of the Marcos dictatorship.

President Duterte is either ill-advised or terribly underestimating the risk that he can be held liable at the International Criminal Court, given the circumstances of the killings.

[continues 804 words]

THE Philippines has vowed to investigate reports of a wave of extrajudicial killings, the government said Sunday, after Washington warned military aid to its Asian ally was dependent on respect for human rights.

According to media reports, nearly a thousand people have been killed since President Rodrigo R. Duterte won a landslide election victory in May largely on a pledge to kill tens of thousands of criminals.

The US embassy warned the Duterte government on Friday that millions of dollars of military aid allotted to the Philippines was tied to adherence to the rule of law, due process and respect for human rights.

[continues 637 words]

MANILA - Samsudin Dimaukom, the mayor of a town in the southern Philippines, was watching television Sunday after midnight when he was startled to hear the country's new president call out his name.

It was no honor. President Rodrigo Duterte was reading a list of more than 150 officials he said were involved in the illegal drug trade. He ordered Dimaukom and the others to turn themselves in within 24 hours or be hunted down.

Since he took office six weeks ago, Duterte, 71, has roiled the nation with a violent war on drugs that has left hundreds dead, most of them poor and powerless.

[continues 261 words]

A COALITION of human rights advocates urged President Duterte yesterday not to make his war on drugs a war on human rights.

In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend) emphasized the need to deal with the cause of drug addiction in the Philippines-poverty.

Around 30 private groups gathered in Quezon City yesterday to launch iDefend, intended to "fill a vacuum" left by the collapse of the political opposition, as well as to provide legal services to families of victims of extrajudicial killings and police operations in Mr. Duterte's war on drugs.

[continues 480 words]

MANILA - Samsudin Dimaukom, the mayor of a town in the southern Philippines, was watching television last Sunday after midnight when he was startled to hear the country's new president call out his name.

It was no honor. President Rodrigo Duterte was reading a list of more than 150 officials he said were involved in the illegal drug trade. He ordered Mr. Dimaukom and the others to turn themselves in within 24 hours or be hunted down.

"We were really surprised when the president came out to announce it," Mr. Dimaukom, the mayor of Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, said by email. "Not once were we involved in drugs. In fact, we were fighting drugs. I support the president's drug war."

[continues 1172 words]

From underprivileged communities, police are taking their intensified campaign against illegal drugs to upscale bars and nightclubs.

But Philippine National Police ( PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa made it clear he is not about to wage war with owners and operators of leisure establishments frequented by the rich, saying he only intends to get their cooperation.

"First of all, I would like to initiate dialogue with them for a peaceful approach," he said.

The glitzy clubs and bars, he said, are mostly located in Makati and in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

[continues 974 words]

The killings will continue, but martial law is not in the picture - that's my reading of President Duterte's speech directed at Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

This administration doesn't need martial law, although it might declare a state of emergency in Sulu to crush the Abu Sayyaf. If the ongoing nationwide killing spree is sustained at its current rate, it may even surpass the body count of victims during martial law. Ferdinand Marcos at least tried to coat his authoritarian acts with legal niceties.

[continues 1013 words]

Chief Justice Sereno went slightly off tangent when she instructed judges named in the "narco list" not to submit to the police without a warrant. She then wrote President Duterte to express her discomfort over the Name and Shame effort.

The President, when he exposed the explosive list of names, did not ask the judges to be arrested. He asked those named to report to the Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over them.

The Court, eventually, did the right thing. It asked that the police furnish it with a bill of particulars and requested a retired justice to oversee an internal inquiry.

[continues 823 words]

CEBU CITY- Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma has described as "ill-advised and half-baked" President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to publicly release the names of over 150 local officials as part of his war on illegal drugs.

The 66-year-old prelate said that while he supported the President's campaign, the fundamental requirements of due process and rule of law must be observed at all times.

"There are people who welcome the President's move to name names, but there are also those who are anxious of what he did," Palma told reporters after he ordained 12 new priests at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Cebu City on Tuesday.

[continues 259 words]

Ill-advised and half-baked. This was how Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma described the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to publicly identify the local officials allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade.

While he supports the President's campaign to curb illegal drugs, the 66year-old prelate said the fundamental requirements of due process and the rule of law have not been observed when he announced the names of so-called "narcopoliticians," judges and policemen involved in the illicit trade.

He likewise called the drug list "not realistic," while at the same time expressing doubt over the inclusion of former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama in the list.

[continues 842 words]

Early Sunday, President Rodrigo R. Duterte dropped another bombshell and announced to the public the names of seven judges, 52 incumbent and former mayors and vice mayors, three congressmen, one former board member and 96 police and military officers allegedly involved in illegal drug trade, bringing the total number of shamed individuals to 159.

What could the "presidential shaming" of politicians, judges and policemen believed to be involved in illegal drug operation attain? If indeed they are really into the illegal drug business, could shaming make them stop their illegal activities?

[continues 524 words]

IFUGAO Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat is tagging the war on drugs waged by the administration as a war of the classes.

Baguilat said treatment of suspects in the drug clean up has been discriminatory.

"The rich and powerful are given deadlines to negotiate their surrender, are accommodated in the PNP White House, gets invited to coffee and are subject to an investigation. But the poor, the lowly drug pusher or the addict simply gets the bullet. It seems like the rules are different with the rich and the poor," Baguilat said.

[continues 244 words]

I LAUD the government's resolve in pursuing its anti-drug campaign, particularly in bringing to justice alleged narco-politicians, judges and bad cops who have contributed and/or benefitted from the drug menace.

However, I would like to raise some questions and concerns on how this war is being waged, especially on the latest list made public by President Duterte.

Case build-ups and dangerous precedent

Is the list the result of judicious case build-ups? Is it backed up by sufficient evidence that can stand the scrutiny of our courts? Will the government file the appropriate charges?

[continues 261 words]

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."

[continues 527 words]

President Threatens to Declare Martial Law

PRESIDENT Duterte yesterday sharply rebuked Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for cautioning judges not to heed his orders to report to police to explain their alleged involvement in illegal drugs and raised the possibility of declaring martial law in the event of a constitutional crisis between the two coequal branches of government. Sereno had warned in a letter to Duterte on Monday that "it would matter greatly to our sense of constitutional order" if the Supreme Court would be given the chance to discipline members of the judiciary as mandated by law.

[continues 732 words]

Do You Prefer Martial Law?

DAVAO CITY - The drug war cannot wait for the slow wheels of Philippine justice.

This was President Duterte's response yesterday to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's instruction to judges tagged by the government as drug coddlers not to surrender unless a warrant is issued for their arrest.

He warned that if Sereno precipitated a constitutional crisis, he would defy her, and would order all members of the executive branch to do the same.

Asking rhetorically if she would rather have him declare martial law to fight the drug menace, Duterte told Sereno in a nationally televised speech, "There is slaughter every day and you are just interested in the warrant of arrest."

[continues 1051 words]

THE PRESIDENT'S "narco-list" came down in the wee hours of the morning last Sunday; like the proverbial thief in the night, it caught many by surprise. And like a piece of work rushed overnight, it was also ridden with errors. The magnitude of President Duterte's release of the list, naming over 150 local government officials, judges and soldiers as involved in drug cartels, cannot be overstated. Depending on which side they are on, lawyers have started to debate whether the list amounts to a systematic violation of the constitutional presumption of innocence or is merely an expression made from the President's bully pulpit.

[continues 598 words]

At our regular village Sunday mass last week, I was listening intently to the parish priest's homily as he discussed the importance of being vigilant about what was happening in the Philippines. He kept talking about the importance of the Fifth Commandant 'Thou shall not kill' and how it is relevant to what is happening on a large scale these past few months.

I think he was trying to remind us not to turn a blind eye to the rising numbers of deaths in just the past two months.

[continues 1016 words]

Let me start with a disclosure and declaration: Because of the contrarian position that I am taking on the war on drugs, I want to declare that:

1) I don't know anyone in the list of narco-politicians and drug coddlers that President Duterte unveiled on Sunday - not one friend or relative or townmate whom I would wish to shield from the punitive hand of the law and public shame.

2) I personally do not use drugs, and am repelled by the very thought of them. And it has been the good fortune of my family not to see any member fall victim to drug addiction.

[continues 1067 words]

CANBERRA - The United Nations has warned that it was "greatly concerned" with the rise in extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and users in the Philippines.

In the strongest yet warning issued by the United Nations condemning President Duterte's murderous campaign against drug lords in the country, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, said that he shared UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's condemnation of the summary killings.

"I join the United Nations secretary general in condemning the apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental and a breach of rights and freedom," Fedotov said. The rise of drug-related killings "contravenes the provisions of the international drug control conventions" and "do not serve the cause of justice," he added.

[continues 798 words]

MY DAUGHTER Una just had an up-close view of the immediate aftermath of a killing. She and the other passengers of the school bus were on their way home when they saw the dead man slumped on the pavement, head bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound. Though stunned and muttering "Oh, my God, oh, my God," she was able to take a "snapchat" video.

My basketball buddies later confirmed the incident. A "known addict and possibly pusher" was indeed executed near our village in Antipolo. The description of the victim implied that somehow he had it coming.

[continues 939 words]

THIS IS in reaction to the news item titled "VP laments lack of outcry vs drug killings" (Front Page, 8/5/16). It is true that the number (more than 800 to date) of suspected drug users and pushers killed has become alarming. But the "alarm" could be for different reasons. Some are alarmed because the number shows the magnitude of the drug problem in the country, while others are alarmed because those killed were just suspects deprived of their right to due process.

[continues 332 words]

He just does things differently. Way past midnight last weekend, in a military camp no one heard of, during the wake for soldiers killed fighting insurgents, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered a bombshell of a speech. He named 160 mayors, judges and police officers he accuses of involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

The speech reverberated across the globe, carried by the major international news networks. Because the speech was delivered in the wee hours, print media missed out on the explosive expose. But it was carried all day by the broadcast media.

[continues 842 words]

THERE is a growing sentiment after two Cordillerans were included in the list of narco - politicians and judges by President Rodrigo Duterte who have contributed and benefitted from the drug menace.

Included in the list are former Langiden, Abra mayor Felix Castillo and Baguio City Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Judge Antonio Reyes.

According to reports, Castillo has already surrendered to local authorities while Reyes has instead decided to keep mum on his involvement.

It is worth praising the government's resolve in pursuing its anti-drug campaign, particularly in bringing to justice alleged narco-politicians, judges and bad cops who have contributed and/ or benefitted from the drug menace.

[continues 234 words]

IF THE intelligence reports about public officials tagged by President Digong as protectors of the illegal drug trade were A-1, they should have suffered the same fate as lowly drug pushers who were summarily executed by the police and vigilante groups.

The only difference between these officials and small-time drug pushers is the privilege of rank; they're still lowlifes for having destroyed millions of lives.

Even in the war against drugs, the people at the higher end of the totem pole are treated differently.

[continues 425 words]

Mayors, Judges, Congressmen, Cops, Soldiers on List

DAVAO CITY - They have 24 hours to surrender or be hunted down.

To stop what he described as a drug "pandemic," President Duterte bared yesterday a list of 159 incumbent and former local executives and lawmakers, judges and uniformed personnel suspected to be involved in the illegal drug trade.

Police and other state forces securing many of the 159 were pulled out.

The President said he owed it to the Filipino people to release the names, noting that "my mouth does not have due process."

[continues 1171 words]

Lawmakers have expressed strong support for President Duterte's anti-drug campaign but stressed that due process and the rule of law must be upheld.

Duterte yesterday named at least 158 mayors and vice mayors, judges, lawmakers, police and military officers involved in drug trafficking in the country.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, said the administration should have made sure of the cases against those exposed before Duterte named them.

"But now that names have been exposed, the authorities are hard put to prove the President's accusation. Hopefully, the evidence gathering will be conducted to serve the ends of justice and not the President's credibility," Lacson said.

[continues 895 words]

MANILA (AP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte publicly linked more than 150 judges, mayors, lawmakers, police and military personnel to illegal drugs Sunday, ordering them to surrender for investigation as he ratcheted up his bloody war against what he calls a "pandemic."

Duterte relieved members of the military and police he named from their posts and ordered government security personnel to be withdrawn from politicians he identified in a nationally televised speech. He also ordered gun licenses of those named revoked.

"All military and police who are attached to these people, I'm giving you 24 hours to report to your mother unit or I will whack you. I'll dismiss you from the service," Duterte said in the speech at a military camp in southern Davao city.

[continues 280 words]

The Dark Side of Duterte's Deadly but Popular War.

When the image of Jennelyn Olaires weeping as she cradled the body of her slain husband went viral in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte called it melodramatic.

There's not much Duterte hasn't said when it comes to his war on drugs, his only real election platform and his big promise to the 16 million Filipinos who swept him to power in May by a massive margin.

And "The Punisher", as he is known, has been true to his word.

[continues 427 words]

DAGUPAN CITY The anti-illegal drug campaign of President Duterte is getting out of hand, and the public should not simply turn a blind eye to the killings.

Sen. Leila de Lima acknowledged the gravity of the drug problem in the country, but stressed the measures against it should respect the rule of law.

"We cannot simply believe that all those who were shot dead grabbed the guns of arresting police operatives or they fought in an armed encounter with lawmen," De Lima said during a testimonial dinner for the successful 2015 Bar examiners of the University of Pangasinan on Friday.

[continues 515 words]

LINGAYEN-DAGUPAN Archbishop Socrates Villegas said he could no longer stomach the killings of suspected drug users and peddlers.

"I do not have to be a bishop to say this. I do not have to be a Catholic to be disturbed by the killings that jar us every time we hear or watch or read the news," the prelate said in a statement entitled, "Let the Humanity in Us Speak."

The statement will be read on Sunday in place of the homily during masses in all the churches and oratories in the Archdiocese of Lingayen, Dagupan.

[continues 236 words]

MANILA - The Philippines' new president, Rodrigo Duterte, on Sunday publicly accused scores of judges, mayors, lawmakers, military personnel and police officers of involvement with the illegal drug trade, giving them 24 hours to surrender for investigation or, he said, be "hunted" down.

Mr. Duterte rejected calls last week from international human rights groups to observe due process in the war he has declared on both sellers and users of illicit drugs, after a photograph of a drug user shot and killed by vigilantes made it to the front pages and became a symbol for the bloody antidrug campaign.

[continues 652 words]

MANILA (AP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte publicly linked more than 150 judges, mayors, lawmakers, police, and military personnel to illegal drugs Sunday, ordering them to surrender for investigation as he ratcheted up his bloody war against what he calls a "pandemic."

Duterte promptly relieved members of the military and police he named from their current posts and ordered government security personnel to be withdrawn from politicians he identified in a nationally televised speech. He also ordered gun licenses of those named revoked.

"There is no due process in my mouth," Duterte said.

Duterte's war on drugs has already left more than 400 suspected dealers and pushers dead and more than 4,400 arrested in more than a month since he took office.

[end]

It's just hyperbole, President Duterte said in explaining his promise to kill local government executives and other officials involved in drugs.

He may be telling the truth. Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera town in Leyte, after all, is still alive after turning himself in last week and naming his son Kerwin, still at large, as a drug dealer.

As of yesterday afternoon, Mayor Mamaulan Abinal Mulok of Maguing, Lanao del Sur and former mayor Mohammad Ali Abu Abinal also remained alive after presenting themselves to Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa at Camp Crame last Friday.

[continues 973 words]

THE CORPSE had clean feet. The body was deposited beside a highway that would soon be crawling with motorists getting away for the weekend to Tagaytay and Batangas, favorite watering holes for Manila's middle class and affluent.

On a weekend, the site would have been risky for an execution or a disposal. There are nearby malls, arcades, and the restaurants and excursion sites of Tagaytay and the beaches of Batangas.

But late Thursday evening or Friday dawn? A few meters from a university and situated beside an open clearing, the spot is located along a stretch of road that is unlighted and uninhabited.

[continues 478 words]

Aside from governors, mayors and members of Congress, judges are also in the order of battle against illegal drugs, President Duterte revealed on Friday.

Speaking at the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Camp LapuLapu in Cebu, Duterte warned he would have to kill them if they would not stop their illegal drug trade.

"These drug lords, these mayors, these governors... don't be complacent with me, I will have you killed," Duterte said.

"Now, if I read the names of the judges which I will in a few hours, a few days. It's not that I want them shamed, I do not know them. There are police officers, judges, there are congressmen. But it behooves upon me, I have the obligation to tell the Filipino people what is happening to this country," he said.

[continues 685 words]

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.

[continues 260 words]

President Duterte issued yesterday a "shoot-to-kill" order against politicians involved in illegal drugs, saying their unforgivable acts have plunged the country into a crisis.

Duterte, who has vowed to end the narcotics trade and criminality within six months, accused the politicians of destroying lives and of enriching themselves at the expense of the people.

"P*ng i ninyo. Did you not think about where this problem would lead us? It's good that I am the President now. I will have you killed. Have you seen what you've done to the Philippines? And then I will forgive you?" the President said in an interview in Davao City.

[continues 1085 words]

PRESIDENT Duterte's bloody war on drugs, which has taken the lives of more than 600 people in one month, has caught the attention of international media and human rights organizations.

The viral photo showing the lifeless body of suspected drug pusher Michael Siaron being cradled by his weeping wife Jennilyn Olayres "humanized the cost of this war on drugs," according to a Time report quoting Phelim Kine, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

But Mr. Duterte, in his inaugural State of the Nation Address to Congress on July 25, dismissed the photo, published by the INQUIRER on its front page a day before his speech, calling it melodramatic and seeking to evoke "Pieta," the sculpture of Michelangelo depicting a hearbreaking scene from the Deposition of Jesus.

[continues 585 words]

THIS REFERS to the news item titled "Widow tells Duterte: Kill drugs, not people" (Front Page, 8/1/16).

The enemies of the Republic and its people are not the drug dependents or those hooked on drugs or their coddlers in the government. The enemy is illegal drugs.

Given this fact, President Duterte should not order the killing of any person, be they guilty or not.

The millennials should know that in the first year of martial law, dictator Ferdinand Marcos got the highest approval trust rating. Then the people in the military, police, executive, legislative, judiciary and even coffee servers, gardeners, drivers, and security guards started to be abusive. Then some 10,000 people (excluding desaparecidos and victims and survivors of unreported torture) became easy victims of martial law atrocities.

[continues 98 words]

PRESIDENT Rody Duterte on Friday repeated his "shoot-to-kill" order against those involved in the illegal drugs trade who would resist arrest.

His shoot-to-kill order is really meant for the police to kill. "Shoot to kill is to shoot and kill him. I don't want the police wasting bullets," he said.

Waste the drug traders, not the bullets.

*

President Rody also guaranteed to answer for state forces involved in shooting incidents related to their duty in the war against drugs.

[continues 269 words]

It's good to hear President Duterte saying he does not like to kill, and he does not go for "salvaging" or summary executions.

Among others, he's referring to cases wherein suspects whose hands are cuffed behind their backs upon arrest are shot dead by the arresting cops purportedly after trying to grab the officers' gun.

That's what happened to the unfortunate motorcycle rider John dela Riarte, who was arrested by the police Highway Patrol Group (HPG) after he figured in a traffic accident and reportedly pounded the car with his helmet. Dela Riarte was shown in a video being punched several times as he was surrounded by a group of HPG and Metro Manila Development Authority traffic aides, and then being led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. Moments later, he was shot dead in a police car, with gunshots to the neck and chest.

[continues 999 words]

VICE PRESIDENT Leni Robredo has deplored the lack of public outcry against extrajudicial killings that have come with President Duterte's takeno-prisoners war on drugs.

"I hope my being vocal against [extrajudicial killings] inspires many others to follow suit because there really has to be public outcry. The way I see it, there has been very little public outcry in the recent past," Robredo told the INQUIRER in an interview on Wednesday.

On the same day, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a statement saying it was "greatly concerned" about the killings of suspected drug users and dealers in the Philippines.

[continues 877 words]

A national daily made a screaming headline, "Church: Thou shall not kill" below a heart wrenching and stirring picture of a weeping young woman hugging the bloodied body of her partner, a pedicab driver and alleged drug pusher, who was shot and killed by a motor-riding gunman near Pasay Rotunda on Edsa.

The Sixth Commandment (Thou shall not kill) was the message for President Rodrigo Duterte in a mass which the Archdiocese of Manila held last Monday, July 25 as he delivered his State of the Nation Address (Sona) to Congress.

[continues 330 words]

The photographs and video footage tell the story: men, shirtless because of the heat, packed like sardines as they sleep in makeshift detention centers, or cooking their evening meal about a meter away from others who dip into water pails as they take a bath.

The detention areas are so cramped some inmates take turns sleeping on precious space. The images have become common in local jails, where persons who have been arrested or surrendered as part of the crackdown against the drug menace are held. Some are quickly freed for rehabilitation. Those charged with heavier offenses face a longer stay as they await trial and the possibility of being freed on bail.

[continues 225 words]

Military assistance to the Philippines dominated the discussions between President Duterte and visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry, with the latter cutting short his message of concern about human rights at the President's behest.

Speaking before members of the Presidential Security Group at Malacanang Park Sunday evening, Duterte related how he told Kerry during their meeting last week to shift to another topic the $32-million US military assistance to the country.

"I have a job to do, let us go to another topic," he recalled having told Kerry. "The money? Oh 32, 'Ah, I give you, $32 million'," he quoted the US official as saying in response.

[continues 169 words]

MANILA - 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 Mr. Duterte took office, according to national police logs.

[continues 1142 words]