P1 B to kill 200 drug lords

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A P1-billion fund for bounty hunters.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he has enough money unspent during his campaign and he could use it as bounty for the arrest or killing of notorious drug traffickers in the country. 

“I have money good for 200 persons. Tanang drug lord ihawa ninyo (Kill all the drug lords),” Duterte said.

It is estimated that with up to P5 million each for the 200 drug peddlers, it would amount to at least P1 billion.

Duterte has increased the amount of the bounty from P3 million to P5 million for each large-scale drug trafficker and from P1 million to P3 million for those down the line.

For bit players, Duterte has pegged the cash reward at P50,000 each.

Duterte stressed the money he would use came from unspent campaign funds. 

He said that at the start of the 90-day campaign last Feb. 9, nobody was giving him money.

“But when I shot up in the survey results, money kept coming,” he said. 

Duterte said he turned down certain campaign donors whom he thought have vested interests. “I never accepted from them,” he said, mentioning in particular a business tycoon.

At the same time, Duterte maintained there would also be problems if he returned the money he accepted for his campaign.

“The problem is if I return them, I do not want to embarrass them,” he said.

He said most of his donors were longtime friends.

Picking the poison

Duterte made the campaign promise to eradicate crime and illegal drugs in the first six months of his presidency.

At one time, he promised to burn down the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City where he said thousands of drug suspects are detained for their illegal activities and continue their illicit trade.

Duterte claimed one-fourth of the market for illegal drugs came from the NBP. He said he would have NBP burned to the ground to put an end to one source of illegal drugs in the country.

The outgoing Davao City mayor also branded the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as “contaminated” by corrupt officials coddling drug pushers.

He earlier vowed to disband PDEA for being ineffective in the fight against illegal drugs.

Duterte on Saturday said he would have three high ranking police officers involved in the illegal drug trade killed and called on the public to kill them if they fight back.

Duterte, during his victory party in Davao City, did not name the three police officers but urged them to resign or face the consequences.

“Either you are still in the police force because you are protecting the illegal drug trade, don’t take this as a joke, I will have you killed,” he said.

Duterte said any law-abiding citizen has the authority to arrest drug suspects under the law.

But if the suspect fights back, any citizen is justified to kill him, he said.

If the suspect is armed and resists arrest, Duterte called on the public to shoot him dead. “I will (even) give you a medal,” he said.

Duterte is pushing for the restoration of death penalty as a deterrent against crime and illegal drugs.

He proposed hanging convicted drug felons to serve as an example.

Former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., on the other hand, reminded Duterte that even criminals have rights to due process under the law.

Pimentel, who was among those who moved to abolish the death penalty, stressed that life is sacred even if the person has gone wayward.

Pimentel, founder of PDP-Laban that supported Duterte’s presidential bid, said the Davao City mayor was able to convince the Filipino people to allow the reimposition of death penalty because of his popularity.

But with Duterte being criticized for his association with extra-judicial killings in Davao City, Pimentel saw the need to weigh the incoming president’s statements in relation to his views on killings.

Pimentel said he had the impression that Duterte is asking the people to choose between restoring the death penalty or to go vigilante against criminals.

Pimentel stressed the current laws, which provide lifetime imprisonment for heinous crimes and convicted drug lords, are enough to punish the offenders. 

“If given the choice, I would prefer death penalty than extrajudicial killing but I wouldn’t want the death penalty. A life sentence is harsh in dealing with these criminals,” Pimentel said in Filipino.

Senator-elect Juan Miguel Zubiri, for his part, urged the public to support Duterte in his anti-illegal drug and crime campaign.

“Let us help him, although sometimes he is controversial, let us allow him to serve the way he served in Davao,” Zubiri said.

“Let us forgive his shortcomings. At the end of the day, our government improves, and crime and the illegal drug problem eliminated, and more jobs (will be) created, let’s give him our support,” he said. – With Christina Mendez, Gerry Lee-Gorit