Law enforcement in the Philippines confirmed the deaths of 21 suspected drug criminals Tuesday, a day after president Rodrigo Duterte lamented of the nation’s drug epidemic, “we can’t control it.”
Duterte won the presidency of his country largely on a promise to eradicate drug crime by any means necessary and has repeatedly threatened to kill drug offenders, alarming human rights activists around the globe.
The Philippine Star cited senior superintendent of police Romeo M. Caramat Jr. as confirming the deaths of 21 suspects and arrests of 64 as part of a raid on what was believed to be a drug and weapons stockpile controlled by a drug trafficking group. The newspaper reports that police confirmed the seizure of over 100 grams of methamphetamine, nearly two dozen weapons, and “assorted drug paraphernalia.”
Police attributed the death count – the highest since Duterte took office in 2016 – to active hostility from those whom police were trying to arrest. The Star described the confrontation against law enforcement as “armed resistance against arresting officers.” The incident occurred in central Bulacan province, Luzon.
The developments followed a bizarre speech in which Duterte lamented that he did not believe it was possible to conquer the nation’s expansive drug abuse and trafficking problem. In his signature mix of English and Filipino, he told an audience this weekend, “Others can’t do it. How can we? Those drugs, we can’t control it.”
“We do not have the equipment. It’s not enough. And you know the coastline,” he stated.
The statements contrast severely with Duterte’s promises on the campaign trail in 2016 when, as mayor of southern Davao city, he promised to kill any drug criminal standing in his way and rapidly end the nation’s drug problem.
“I will use the military and the police to go out and arrest them, hunt for them and if they offer a violent resistance … I will simply say, ‘kill them all so we can finish this problem.'” the candidate Duterte promised in 2016.
Duterte has repeatedly threatened to “kill you” if drug criminals continue to sell methamphetamine and other drugs in the nation and at one time claimed to personally enjoy killing drug suspects. Following international condemnation, he walked those comments back, alleging, “I am not a killer.”
He has not backed down on his repeated assertions that killing “criminals” is not a human rights violation. “The criminals have no humanity,” he said in March, speaking in favor of reinstating the death penalty.
Following his more subdued comments this weekend, spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified to reporters that Duterte was not giving up on ending rampant drug crime in the country. “The President’s remarks that the Philippines cannot control the drug problem underscore its depth, enormity and the complexity. PRRD’s statement further points out that the drug situation in the Philippines is a problem that cannot be solved overnight,” Abella said. “The anti-drug campaign must thus, continue to be unrelenting and unremitting while getting everyone’s full support and cooperation.”
Estimates suggest that over 2000 people have died in “drug-related homicides” since Duterte became president, not counting the over 3,000 drug suspects killed in violent exchanges with police.
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