A few months back, hardline Filipino politician and supposed Donald Trump analogue Rodrigo Duterte drew international condemnation for… Well, a litany of pretty valid reasons.
During his campaign for the Presidency of the rapidly-growing south-east Asian power, Duterte made some unconscionable remarks about the rape of an Australian woman.
He also built his entire platform on an authoritarian leadership style he practiced as mayor of the city Davao, promising to weed out corruption within public office. Oh, and he promised that anybody who kills a drug dealer will escape punishment.
Well, he won, and 50 days into his stint as the nation’s leader, the figures are in: at least 1,850 people have been killed, either by police or civilians, as a result of Duterte’s hardline stance. That’s about 37 a day.
Those figures came from National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa, who also used a televised address today to really hammer home how okay the government is with the wanton slaying of suspected drug dealers:
“They’re all enjoying your money, money that destroyed your brain. You know who the drug lords are. Would you like to kill them? Go ahead. Killing them is allowed because you are the victim.”
The latest report from Al Jazeera reveals that of 831 deaths investigated, 477 were killed as the direct result of a police investigation, while the suspects in the remaining 354 killings remain unknown.
Earlier, the US State Department criticised the regime for its flagrantly inhumane policies – obviously. Duterte’s empathy factor is effectively zero, ’cause he said “I don’t care about human rights, believe me.”
Horrific. Absolutely horrific.
Source: Al Jazeera / ABC.
Photo: Pacific Press / Getty.
Horrific. Absolutely horrific.
Source: Al Jazeera / ABC.
Photo: Pacific Press / Getty.
