Duterte to mayors: If you can't handle drug war, I'll do it myself

MANILA, Philippines -- President Rodrigo Duterte has asked local executives who cannot carry out their campaign against illegal drugs to stand aside and let him do the job himself.

 

Duterte said he is ready to work with local governments to clamp down on the narcotics trade and on criminality.

 

“Kung sabihin ninyo hindi niyo kaya, huwag kayo maghiya. Sabihin niyo: 'Mayor, hindi ko ugali yang bayolenteng pamamaraan.' Ah, sige, tumabi ka lang diyan. Ako na mismo (If you can’t do it, don’t be ashamed. Tell me: Mayor, I’m not into violent solutions. Okay, stand aside. I will do it myself),” the president told local executives in Makati on Tuesday.

 

“I will never come back this way again so I would just assure (you) that we (can) work together. I’m sounding the alarm regarding drugs. Please do something about it,” he added.  

 

Duterte stressed, though, that he would not interfere with the operations of the police and the judiciary.

 

“I think what I would just do is to send (the list of officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs) to the Supreme Court or the police,” he said.

 

Duterte has so far linked more than 160 incumbent and former government officials to the drugs trade as part of his intensified campaign against narcotics and crime.

 

The president said about 8,000 names of government officials, including barangay captains and uniformed men, are in his new narco list. He vowed to disclose the names of the so-called narco officials soon.

 

Despite calls for him to lessen the tough talk to avoid being misinterpreted, Duterte stressed that law enforcers should not hesitate to kill if they feel that their lives are in danger?

 

“My order is that go out and arrest them and if they do not surrender and present a violent resistance and if you feel that that resistance would endanger your life, and jeopardize your being, kill him. Period,” he said.

 

Duterte cited the case of Albuera, Samar Mayor Rolando Espinosa, one of the local executives tagged in illegal drugs.

 

“He (Espinosa) preempted me. I ordered to have him killed. As in 'kill him'. I have one Army team and I told them: 'Kill him wherever he is',” the president said. 

 

“Kill him even if he is in front of the church. Kill him even if he is in a cemetery. You can just push that son of a w***e  (to the grave),” he added.  

 

Duterte issued a shoot to kill order against Espinosa and his son Kerwin on the grounds of drug trafficking and coddling last August. The mayor has surrendered to authorities but Kerwin has not. 

 

“He is lucky (he surrendered),” Duterte said, referring to the elder Espinosa.