Cayetano: Duterte is reset button for Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday evening defended anew the current administration’s fight against criminality and drugs saying President Rodrigo Duterte is a reset button for the nation.

In his interview with CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, Cayetano said the drug situation is one of the biggest problems in the country and several Filipino families do not feel safe due to this. He, however, lauded Duterte for addressing the issue saying his fight against drugs is bearing fruit.

Cayetano clarified that Duterte is not disregarding international human rights and denied Sen. Leila De Lima's and Commission on Human Rights Chair Chito Gascon’s allegations of human rights violation. He dismissed the cases mentioned by the two officials as faulty generalizations, adding that every case they stated has already been investigated or is being prosecuted in the court.

He even cited that Duterte admitted there are rotten cops linked to the narcotics trade. He added that the current crackdown against illegal drugs is not going to be the norm as it is only a part of the clean-up process.

“President Duterte is a reset button. It (anti-drug campaign) is an offensive against the drug lords. It is a clean-up process and once everything stabilizes and we can put more money on CCTV, drug labs, crime labs, paying police more, professionalizing all aspects of governance, you will have the more European or US type of law enforcement that you want,” Cayetano said.

“This is isn’t vigilante killings wherein people are being paid. This is the drug lords cleaning up their own act so they won’t be brought to court,” he added.

Cayetano explained that Duterte is just trying to imitate Singapore’s method of letting people love and fear the law. He said he is hopeful that the government’s move to instill in the people the love and fear of the law would work.

Cayetano also defended Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa from his previous statement of urging people to burn the houses of drug lords. The senator said the police chief had already apologized for his comment.