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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte publicly ordered the country’s top customs official to shoot and kill drug traffickers, in one of his most outspoken threats during a deadly four-year campaign that has been the centerpiece of his presidency.
Duterte has denied authorizing extrajudicial executions, but has repeatedly and openly threatened drug traffickers with death.
He and the national police, who have led the enforcement of their anti-drug campaign, have said that most of the suspects killed by police during the campaign fought back and threatened the lives of law enforcement officers.
Duterte gave the order to customs office commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero in televised remarks from a cabinet meeting on the coronavirus pandemic Monday night.
Guerrero, a retired army general and former chief of military personnel, was not present when Duterte spoke, but the president said he met with Guerrero and two other officials earlier that day at the presidential palace in Manila.
“Drugs still flow into the country through customs,” Duterte said, adding that he had previously approved Guerrero’s request for firearms. “I approved the purchase of firearms and so far you haven’t killed a single one? I said, ‘Get in shape.’
“I told him bluntly: ‘The drugs keep coming in. I’d like you to kill there … anyway, I’ll back you up and you won’t be jailed. If it’s drugs, you shoot and kill. That’s the arrangement, ”Duterte said without elaborating.
More than 5,700 drug suspects, mostly poor, have been killed during Duterte’s drug crackdown, which has alarmed human rights groups and Western governments and prompted an examination of alleged crimes against humanity in international criminal court.
Duterte has vowed to continue the deadly crackdown in his two years in power.
Human Rights Watch called Duterte’s order “savage.” Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia for the US-based human rights group, said the UN human rights council, which meets this month, should establish an independent international investigation into the killings in the Philippines.
“The continuing carnage also explains why the international community led by the European Union needs to act decisively on this rights catastrophe in the Philippines and not be swayed by the government’s falsehoods about its record,” said Robertson.
Human rights groups have said their investigations showed that some suspects were mercilessly murdered, then police officers altered the scene and placed firearms in the victims’ hands to make it appear they were defending themselves. Police have said that human rights groups and critics should file criminal complaints in court if they have evidence against the officers.
