Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has threatened martial law if the drug war increases in an unprecedented effort to continue his violent crackdown against drugs.
“I have to protect the Filipino people. It is my duty. And I tell you now, if I have to declare martial law, I will declare it,” Duterte told a conference of businessmen.
Duterte has expressed his disdain for his country’s judicial system saying that “he doesn’t care about the Supreme Court,” and that no one can stop him.
“The right to preserve one’s life and my nation transcends everything else, even the limitations,” he said.
Duterte has vowed to stop the sale and use of illegal drugs in the Philippines to prevent the country from becoming “a narco-state” in his own words.
The recent crackdown on drug users and dealers has left about 6,000 dead in the last six months, as Duterte endorsed killing drug crime offenders in a war zone worthy stance in 2016.
As the BBC reported, “the Philippines Constitution says a president can only declare martial law for 60 days and then only to stop an invasion or a rebellion.
Duterte has also ordered troops to fire on militants behind a wave of kidnappings, even if it results in the deaths of hostages calling those hostages “collateral damage.”
Additionally, Duterte has threatened to throw rapists and corrupt officials out of a helicopter and said last month that he threw one rapist out of a helicopter as mayor.
“If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out, I have done this before, why would I not do it again?” Duterte, said.
Although he says that if you aren’t a bad person and “don’t do anything wrong you have nothing to worry about.”
Duterte later denied the claims of personally killing at least three people but these all seem like actions a dictator would take.
Hitman Edgar Matobato told a Senate hearing that Duterte ordered hits of his political employees in the 1980’s when Duterte was mayor, even saying that the former mayor took part in the killings and was the leader of the “Lambada Boys” – a Philippean gang and precursor to another gang, the Davao Death Squad.
“Mayor Duterte was the highest leader of DDS,” Edgar Matobato said in his affidavit.
Edgar Matobato also alleged that Duterte knew about the drug trade and organized crime within this organization.
When asked what his motives were for coming forward he replied, “I want justice to be served because we killed many people. I have a conscience. Even up to now, many are still being killed.”
If true this would explain why Duterte wants to go after drug offenders/users because they might rat him out.
UN human rights experts have asked the Philippines government to address extrajudicial killings of drug users in the country since August even going as far as saying that Duterte “lacks understanding of human rights.”
In response to the UN condemnation, Duterte has said he is considering taking the Philippines out of the UN, withdrawing from the ICC or International Criminal Court, and ending a major pact with the U.S. government.
But Duterte’s murders are just a part of his grotesque campaign promise to kill 100,000 criminals if elected.
- Shockingly 40% of the Philippines voted for Duterte, unless there was that nasty word the Democrats in the U.S. hated and said didn’t exist “election rigging.”
The post Philippines President Threatens Martial Law Over Drug War; To Throw Corrupt Officials Out Of A Helicopter appeared first on We Are Change.
from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/philippines-president-duterte-threatens/
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