Rodrigo Duterte Just Put the Philippines’ Drug War on Hold

In October, officers were allegedly involved in the abduction of Jee Ick-joo, a South Korean national employed by shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries.

Duterte said that building permanent military facilities in the country violates the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement signed between the Philippines and the US. “And we admit that and that’s something that has to be corrected severely”.

The campaign had been due to end in March, but Mr Duterte said it would resume after the purge: “I will extend it to the last day of my term [in 2022]”.

Of this, the police say over 2,500 were drug suspects killed in legitimate police operations, and more than 3,600 are “under investigation”.

“I’ll just gather them, bring them new uniforms, new combat boots”, he said.

THE Police Regional Office (PRO) in Negros Island Region (NIR) temporarily stopped anti-illegal drug operations, following an order from the Philippine National Police (PNP) to cease and desist all police units from conducting such operations effective January 29.

The president said he knew who was guilty and bragged that he would send their heads to South Korea by way of atonement.

Jee’s killing prompted a Senate inquiry on Thursday where lawmakers spoke of at least 12 similar cases.

He also told the police at Mr Dela Rosa’s birthday party this month he would tolerate them engaging in illegal activities to earn “sideline” money, as long as that did not involve drugs.

Since the crackdown, which began soon after Duterte took office on June 30, some 7,000 people have been killed in drug-related incidents, based on data from the Philippine National Police.

“I don’t know how long it will take to cleanse the police”.

Duterte mentioned that he has an urgent message to China asking if Beijing would be willing to help provide precision-guided missiles in order to back up Philippine troops in battling militants linked to Islamic State in the south.

One went missing from police custody at the weekend.

“They could have killed, strangled him everywhere, anywhere, but that it had to happen inside Camp Crame is really bad”, Duterte said, referring to Jee.

Jee was arrested for drug offences that his wife and lawyers said was an official cover for kidnap for ransom.

Duterte himself on Sunday ordered the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) to disband, saying he was embarrassed that anti-drugs officers had abused their power to engage in kidnapping.

Senator Lacson aired CCTV footage at the inquiry of what he said were policemen beating up people in an office in October past year and pointing guns at them before planting bags of crystal methamphetamine in their drawers. “But I won’t protect lying”, he said. “I have a duty to do and I will do it”.

The crackdown has elicited strong condemnation overseas, including from Western governments, human rights advocates, and the United Nations, but has been broadly popular at home.

Mr Duterte has made tackling drug use in the Philippines a central part of his presidency.