Philippine Police Killed 32 People in Order to Scare Drug Cartels

The Philippine police said today that they have killed 32 people in operations aimed at terrorists among drug traffickers, the France press reported.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that his war on drugs causing a lot of polemic around the world could also have negative sides, the agency notes. Since coming to power 14 months ago, the Duterte has led an unprecedented harsh campaign against drugs. Police and alleged militias have killed thousands, and human rights activists have said that the Duterte may be committing crimes against humanity.

The Philippine president, however, welcomed the killing of dozens of suspected drug trafficking, DPA reported, quoted by BTA. "Let's kill another 32 every day, then maybe we'll be able to reduce the thing torturing this country," Duterte said.

In one of the bloodiest operations against alleged traffickers in the Philippines - in Bulakhan Province not far from Manila, according to police, 32 people have been killed in a 24-hour period, police said.

"Our quest is to bring confusion and terror among the drug gangs," said Commissioner Manuela Romeo Caramat, head of Bulacan police, to journalists in Manila. He argues that "the other drug bosses will think twice before continuing trade." 109 suspects have been arrested. Caramat argues that the police only acted within legitimate self-defense. According to him, during the operation, grenades and guns were confiscated. "We know we have done nothing wrong," he said. Duterte easily won the presidential election in the Philippines in May last year with the promise to liquidate tens of thousands of traffickers and drug addicts so as not to turn the archipelago into a drug nation. He promised victory in the war on drugs for three to six months. Last week, the president, having only one six-year mandate, admitted that he might not have fulfilled his election promise. "Listen, these shabu (methamphetamine, AFP), drugs, etc., can not be fixed by a single person, one president over a mandate, the countries are suffering because of that," he said on Friday in his native town of Davao, in the southern Philippines. In another speech last week at the headquarters of the police, Duterte, however, made it clear that he would not deviate from his course.

"I will pardon the police officers who are found guilty of murders committed in the war on drugs", he said again.

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