Dirty Rody wants 5 thugs killed per week

MANILA, Philippines - Unfazed by criticism from human rights advocates, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte says that peace and order problems can be solved by “killing five criminals” every week.

The tough-talking latecomer to the 2016 presidential race, who attended a Christmas and thanksgiving party hosted by two of his supporters in Taguig City Tuesday night, said that if he wins, he would ensure that every Filipino could walk in streets free of drugs, corruption and criminals, just like what he did in Davao City.

“I say let’s kill five criminals every week, so they will be eliminated,” Duterte said.

He vowed to revive the death penalty should he win, saying that people should not be afraid to kill criminals who prey on civilians and molest minors.

Duterte said the nation’s crime rate significantly increased after the government scrapped capital punishment.

He believes the country needs a firm resolve to punish wrongdoers such as those who peddle illegal drugs, which he considers as the prime factor that pushes people to commit crime.

“Why should you fear killing criminals? We are not afraid when civilians are killed, children get raped and drugs flood the county and you are not worried about that? You are only worried about the criminals who kill and plunder, rape and kill,” he told reporters.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a vice presidential candidate, had said that he believes that Duterte would prove true to his word should he win in the 2016 polls.

Trillanes, who supports independent presidential bet Sen. Grace Poe, said that the Filipino people should decide if they want a country like Somalia or Sudan where people could easily be killed, apparently referring to Duterte’s style of leadership.

Responding to Trillanes’ statement, Duterte said that the Filipino should better pray for that to happen under his administration if he wins in next year’s elections.

He added that the country would not just be like Somalia, but also like Yemen.

“We should pray for that. I have no problem with him [Trillanes]. If that’s the way how he designs his mind, so be it. Just like Somalia? So be it,” he said. “As long as it’s Somalia without crime, graft and corruption, no drugs, and I would be happy to live in a Somalia scenery. I have no problem with it, you even want Yemen,” said Duterte.

Duterte said the eradication of crime would be his priority when he is elected president.

“Prosecutor kasi ako. So when I became mayor, I used to prosecute the crimes in court. To fight crime became an obsession,” Duterte said during the advance Christmas party for his supporters held at the Enderun Tent at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City Tuesday night.

Duterte admitted that his tough stance against crime, particularly those linked with illegal drugs, has made him very popular in Davao City.

“I really hate crime. The only way to fight crime is to be a criminal. The reason people want me to run is because of what I did in Davao City. This much I can say. Crime has to go. Drugs must be stopped at all cost,” he told his cheering supporters.

Aside from getting rid of crime and drugs, Duterte also promised that he would eliminate corruption in government, the bureaucracy would be fixed and paramilitary units would be dissolved.

He would also push amendments to the Constitution that would allow for a change in the form of government to a federal system.

“In the first year, I will go into a series of consensus for a federal form of government. Then in the year after, I will call for a constitutional convention. You cannot do it alone, it has to be with the consent of the Filipino people,” he said.

After learning that Jose Maria Sison, the self-exiled leader of the communist National Democratic Front, has expressed support for his candidacy, Duterte said he is willing to talk to the communist leader when he returns to the Philippines.

“And Sison, it’s good he became my professor. The important thing is that he said ‘I would go home if Duterte makes it to the presidency,’ ” he said.

Duterte said he is even willing to allow Sison and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) to enter into a coalition with his party and get involved in some areas of governance.

“Organizing is the specialty of the communists. They are really good at it. What kind of coalition? I can concede to him (Sison) DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform), DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), what else? Planning? But they cannot have the military, police, finance and international relations. These are things reserved for the sovereign authority to exercise. Other proprietary (functions), they can have it,” he said.

Although he is willing to talk with Sison and the NDF, Duterte stresses that although he is a socialist, he is not a communist.

He cited the experience of Davao City at the height of the assassination spree of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

“Davao was at the crossroads at that time. The NPA were on their way out because we were talking. And I said, look if you’re here, we will just fight. I am a socialist but I am not a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines. That is so far left. I do not go around killing my own countrymen,” Duterte said.

“Davao City used to lose four to five policemen a day. Soldiers even. So I told the communists, we cannot co-exist in this city,” he added.

Consider others

Duterte urged his supporters to consider the other presidentiables.

He also pledged his support to his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano in the event he loses in the presidential derby.

“I told Alan, if I lose and you win, do not worry, I will kill the president for you,” he told his supporters.

Duterte, however, said that a six-year term is not enough for a president to resolve all the problems in the Philippines, especially on issues pertaining to informal settlers.

“You must elect a president for at least 12 years. Six years is nothing… We should choose a president and he can plan and he can borrow [money] without losing it to graft and spend it for the correct purpose,“ Duterte said in an interview on radio dzMM.

Duterte also admitted killing three kidnappers in Davao City in 1988.

He said that he shot the kidnappers who allegedly molested a girl whom they kidnapped in Davao City.

Duterte even boasted that he was able to use two magazines of a .45 caliber pistol in killing the kidnappers. He said he and three others shot the suspects.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) spokesman Banuar Falcon said that they were alarmed at the statements of Duterte.

“In the first place, it’s against the law to take the law into your hands... if you have knowledge of a crime, you have to report it and go to the usual process, that’s why we have a national prosecution service,” Falcon told The STAR.

Former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Duterte is bound to uphold the rule of law if elected president.

Speaking to reporters at the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay, Pimentel said his son Sen. Koko Pimentel and Duterte talked about extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals that have alarmed Amnesty International.

“Mayor Duterte was told that he is bound to uphold the rule of law,“ the elder Pimentel said.

Pimentel, a founding chairman of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN), said extrajudicial killings have no place in a civilized society.

SC justices meddling denied

Presidential candidate Roy Señeres yesterday denied a report that two Supreme Court justices have tried to convince him to drop his bid to give way to Duterte, who is their fraternity brother in San Beda College’s Lex Talionis. – With Mike Frialde, Perseus Echeminada, Jess Diaz, Edu Punay