Philippines’ Duterte says he’s willing to face probe into drug killings

The Malacañang official said the government’s drive against the illegal drug trade was meant to “save the nation” from individuals who had benefited from the manufacture, sale and distribution of illicit substances.

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. “Alleged violations of these protocols will be investigated by the authorities and those who have broken the law will be prosecuted”, it added.

Dela Rosa had earlier on said he would not tolerate vigilante killings, but expressed concern that human-rights advocates may be unfairly blaming the police for killings that are not by rogue cops, but either by vigilantes or drug networks annihilating each other.

‘We strongly urge the Philippines to ensure its law enforcement efforts are consistent with its human rights obligations, ‘ the embassy added.

In a statement on Friday, August 12 the CPP said their anti-drugs operation “will no longer be considered as cooperative with the Duterte regime’s undemocratic and anti-people “war on drugs”.

Winston Castelo, author of one of the bills seeking emergency powers for Duterte, said vehicular traffic in Metro Manila has “reached an alarming scale that it has become a national disaster”.

The political outsider swept to a landslide election victory in May and immediately implemented an anti-drug crackdown that has seen police and vigilantes kill more than 1,000 people, according to media tallies. “The worst that they have been made to undergo is to suffer the lectures of the PNP (Philippine National Police) chief”.

In a message to Congress, Mr Duterte said the Budget would give “flesh and bone” to his campaign promise to bring change “here and now”.

Duterte openly boasts that he has issued “shoot-to-kill” orders to police to deal with drug suspects.

According to the CPP, Duterte’s “drug war” is bound to fail because it does not address the socio-economic roots of the problem.

Citing PNP data, Andanar said that a month after Duterte was sworn into office, the incident of crime dropped to 50,817 this July from 56,339 of the same month previous year.

In another public event, Duterte attacked Senator Leila de Lima, who will open a public inquiry next week into drug-related killings, saying she was only playing politics and linked her driver to the drugs trade.