Rody to fiscals: Join war vs drugs, corruption

MANILA, Philippines -  President Duterte has challenged government prosecutors to join him in the war against illegal drugs and corruption in government.

 “When someone commits a crime under the influence of drugs, he kills, he rapes, robbery with homicide, robbery with rape, and when the psychiatrist examines the idiot, he would come to the conclusion that he is not in his complete faculties,” he said during the 29th Annual National Convention of the Prosecutors’ League of the Philippines in Pampanga Wednesday.

Duterte also urged prosecutors to work closely with the administration in the fight against corruption, stressing that under his administration, promotion will be through a merit system.

“I will not allow politics to set in. Whether you are an appointee, stand on your merit because it will always be based on your performance, on what is right and legal,” he said.

The President said illegal drugs is one of the challenges that prosecutors must face, noting that 77,000 crime-related deaths are also drug-related.

He also said the country has four million drug users, with 40 percent of barangay captains involved in the illegal drug trade. 

“I have to destroy an apparatus. I am the President at this time and I get to solve the problems that were known only by now. The beginning and end of my presidency is to preserve the Filipino nation and our children,” he said.