Philippine President Has Led A Bloody War On Drug Suspects

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, who has led a bloody war on drug suspects, on Sunday named over 30 politicians, officials and judges whom he linked to narcotics and warned them to surrender.
It was also gathered that the police and shadowy vigilantes have been blamed for killing over 800 drug suspects since Duterte’s election on May 9.
“Due process has nothing to do with my mouth. There are no proceedings here, no lawyers,” Duterte disclosed this in a pre-dawn speech just before he began naming the suspects.He listed seven judges and over 25 current or former congressmen, mayors and other local officials whom he alleged were involved in illegal drugs. He ordered their security escorts withdrawn and cancelled their firearms permits, adding that they would face sanctions.
“If you show the slightest violence in the resistance, I will tell the police, ‘Shoot them’,” he told reporters and soldiers in the southern city of Davao.
Duterte, who has gained widespread domestic popularity for his outspokenness, conceded “I might be wrong” about the guilt of those he named.
According to him, the military and police had compiled the list which he insisted was not coloured by politics or personal links, adding that some of those named were even his friends.
Furthermore, Duterte’s spokesman Martin Andanar later revealed that criminal cases would be filed against those named.
According to the report,“The president is encouraging all of the persons of interest, the alleged drug lords and drug coddlers to come out in the open, to surrender themselves and submit themselves to thorough investigation"
Some of those named have since come out in radio and television and denied their guilt.
Duterte won election by vowing to wage a war on illegal drugs and other crime that would claim tens of thousands of lives.
He has ordered police not to hesitate to kill and even urged ordinary citizens and communist guerrillas to join in the bloodshed.
The country’s largest broadcaster ABS-CBN has listed 852 drug suspects killed since Duterte’s election.
In his speech, Duterte scoffed at human rights groups opposed to the killings, saying they were free to protest.      GUARDIAN