‘Shoot them and I’ll give you a medal’: New Philippine President urges public to kill drug dealers

06 Jun, 2016 by Sierra Marlee

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I’ll all for getting drug dealers off of the street, but should someone go this far to keep their country clean? Are drugs really worse than murder?

Apparently the new President of the Phillipines thinks it’s an acceptable practice to kill drug dealers and made it VERY clear to his people.

From The Daily Mail:

Newly elected president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has encouraged his countrymen to shoot and kill drug dealers and fight back in their neighbourhoods.

The president-elect urged the public to help in his war against crime in return for rewards, speaking during a televised speech on Saturday.

The 71-year-old told a crowd in the southern city of Davao they would be compensated. A precedent has already been set by a mayor who gave police more than £2,000 for killing drug traffickers.

The city’s most famous son said: ‘Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun — you have my support.

‘If a drug dealer resists arrest or refuses to be brought to a police station and threatens a citizen with a gun or a knife, you can kill him… Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal.’

Duterte’s warning comes as the country faces an extensive illegal drug trade where even the police are involved.

He gave his advice after winning the May 9 presidential election on a bold promise to end crime and corruption within six months of the start of his presidency.

That vow resonated among crime-weary Filipinos, though police officials considered it campaign rhetoric that was impossible to accomplish.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm that his anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations.

The mayor of the nation’s second biggest city, Cebu, has already made the first payment to officers for killing criminals.

Tomas Osmena, 67, said he had given more than £2,000 to police for killing three men they claimed were drug traffickers.

While this is a rather radical way to remove drug dealers from your country, it also opens the door to flat-out murder of completely innocent people by those who would falsely claim that they were drug users/dealers.