Philippines president will reward those who kill drug dealers

To give a boost to his war against crime, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would reward anyone who kills a drug dealer with a medal.

“Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun — you have my support,” he said in a televised speech on Saturday.

The Filipino president has cautioned his people about the drug trade that has plagued the nation and in which, he said, country's police was also involved.



If a Filipino sees a drug dealer and he refuses to be taken to the police station, threatening a citizen with his gun, “you can kill him,” Duterte told the crowd. “Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal”.

The newly-elected president came to power on May 9 with mandate of eliminating corruption, crime and the drug trade in first six months of his tenure.

Warning the policemen involved in the crimes, he said if he found an officer involved in drug trade because “his wife had cancer” or “his mother died”, he would try to be lenient with them. However, if the officer is doing it just out of “extreme greed”, he would surely have him killed.



“If you’re still into drugs, I will kill you. Don’t take this as a joke. I’m not trying to make you laugh, son of a b***h, I will really kill you,” Duterte said.

Given his ambitions, Human Rights organisation were concerned about the president’s encouragement of this kind of justice whereas others in police authorities remarked his stance as unrealistic.

The article originally appeared in BuzzFeed