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Phillippine police have killed a city mayor, his wife and 10 others during a series of pre-dawn anti-drug raids in the south, officials said.
Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of Ozamiz city, is the latest official to be killed since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a drug war. Tiếp tục đọc “Police kill Reynaldo Parojinog and wife in drug raid”
Reuters Apr 24, 2017
HONG KONG/THE HAGUE – A Philippine lawyer said he filed a complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte and senior officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, accusing them of crimes against humanity in a nationwide anti-drugs crackdown.
Attorney Jude Sabio said in the 77-page complaint that Duterte “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” committed crimes against humanity and that under him, killing drug suspects and other criminals has become “best practice.”
Sabio is the lawyer for Edgar Matobato, a man who has testified in the Philippines Senate that he was part of a hit squad that operated on Duterte’s orders. Tiếp tục đọc “Lawyer for Philippines hit man files complaint against Duterte in international court”
A Cambodian Buddhist monk, foreground, holds a portrait of Cambodia prominent political analyst Kem Ley as he takes part in a funeral procession of Kem Ley in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 24, 2016. Photo: Heng Sinith/AP-TT
FILE PHOTO: A woman prays for her loved one who she says was killed due to alleged involvement in illegal drugs, during a Holy Eucharist mass against extra-judicial killings inside a Roman Catholic Church in Paranaque city, metro Manila, Philippines March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco/File Photo
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said in a statement that the Philippine National Police (PNP) should take “drastic measures” to verify the allegations made by two senior police officers, and punish those who have “broken their vow to protect the Filipino people.” Tiếp tục đọc “Philippine senator calls for probe into police cash-for-kill claim”
FILE PHOTO: Arturo Lascanas, a retired Davao policeman, wipes his tears during a news conference at the Senate headquarters in metro Manila, Philippines February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco/File Photo
In the most detailed insider accounts yet of the drug war’s secret mechanics, the two senior officials challenged the government’s explanations of the killings in interviews with Reuters. Tiếp tục đọc “Police describe kill rewards, staged crime scenes in Duterte’s drug war”
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would not be intimidated by the prospect of the International Criminal Court (ICC) putting him on trial over his bloody war on drugs, promising that his campaign would continue and would be “brutal”. Tiếp tục đọc “Duterte: International Criminal Court ‘cannot stop me’”
Opposition lawmaker formally calls for president to be removed from power, accusing him of high crimes
An opposition lawmaker filed an impeachment complaint in the Philippine Congress on Thursday against President Rodrigo Duterte, calling for his removal for what he said were high crimes, betrayal of public trust and abuses of power. Tiếp tục đọc “Rodrigo Duterte impeachment papers filed in Philippine Congress”
![More than 7,000 people have been killed since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte began his 'war on drugs' [Romeo Ranoco/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2017/3/15/be0e98541e6d4d2797cb1d0e93b51693_18.jpg "Philippine VP: Bullets can't stop illegal drug use")
The Philippine vice president has raised an alarm about the country’s bloody crackdown on illegal drug use, saying it can’t be solved “with bullets alone”, adding Filipinos should “defy brazen incursions on their rights”.
Vice President Leni Robredo’s comments, some of her sharpest critiques so far of Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, are likely to antagonise the brash-talking president. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippine VP: Bullets can’t stop illegal drug use”
MANILA – A self-confessed assassin who testified to being in a “death squad” under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will soon file a case at the International Criminal Court accusing the president of crimes against humanity, his lawyer said Tuesday.
More than 8,000 people have died since Duterte took office in June and unleashed a bloody war on drugs, a third in raids and sting operations by police who say they acted in self-defense.
Duterte and the police have denied links to the other killings, many of which rights groups say bear the same hallmarks as hundreds of suspicious deaths of criminals in Davao City during the 22 years Duterte was its mayor. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippine ‘hit man’ set to file ICC case against Duterte over crimes against humanity”
Arturo Lascanas made the allegations at the start of a nationally televised Senate inquiry on Monday after he admitted to lying in October during another Senate inquiry into alleged extrajudicial killings linked to Duterte.
Lascanas said that he had personally killed 300 people, about 200 as a member of a “Davao death squad”, with his last in 2015. He also detailed two cases where he had murdered critics of Duterte, under the instruction of the then-mayor’s bodyguard. Tiếp tục đọc “Retired officer links Duterte to almost 200 killings”
MANILA — A world of sin. A weary savior. Filipinos know the story well.
Since coming to power last summer, President Rodrigo Duterte has used biblical language to build a case for mass killings, vowing to sacrifice himself, even his son, to cleanse the nation of crime.
Conjuring a world in which evil stalks the innocent, Duterte launched a wave of violence that has claimed at least 7,000 lives. With his critics cursed and shamed, and with public support for the president running high, the establishment, including the Roman Catholic Church, has for the most part stayed quiet.
But now, more than seven months into Duterte’s tenure, with the death toll climbing night by night, the country’s Catholic hierarchy is finding its voice. In a pastoral letter published in February, church leaders denounced Duterte’s campaign as a “reign of terror” against the poor. Tiếp tục đọc “‘False prophet’: Duterte, the Catholic Church and the fight for the soul of the Philippines”
A supporter of Senator Leila De Lima (not pictured), a top critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, shouts slogans as they hold a rally outside the court building in Muntinlupa City. (Photo: AFP)
MANILA: More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Manila on Saturday to protest Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, following the arrest of his most high-profile critic.
The protestors massed outside the national police headquarters where Senator Leila de Lima was detained on Friday, in a demonstration against the alleged death-squad murders of thousands of drug suspects.
Demonstrators warned the Duterte crackdown could lead to a repeat of the military-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, which was toppled in a bloodless “People Power” revolution 31 years ago to the day. Tiếp tục đọc “Hundreds protest on Philippine streets as Duterte jails top critic”
A Philippines senator and staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has been arrested by law enforcement agents after charges were filed in court alleging that she received money from drug dealers inside the country’s prisons.
Senator Leila de Lima is accused of orchestrating a drug-trafficking ring when she was justice secretary during the 2010-2015 administration of Benigno Aquino.
“The truth will come out and I will achieve justice. I am innocent,” she told reporters shortly before law enforcers escorted her away from her office on Friday. Tiếp tục đọc “Senator Leila de Lima arrested in the Philippines”
A retired Philippine police officer says President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a “liquidation squad” to kill criminals and opponents.
The former policeman, Arthur Lascanas, told a news conference on Monday that he was speaking up because he was bothered by his conscience – including his role in the deaths of his two brothers, whom he ordered killed because they were drug users.
“I had my own two brothers killed. Even if I end up dead, I’m content because I’ve fulfilled my promise to the Lord to make a public confession,” he said, breaking into tears. Tiếp tục đọc “Rodrigo Duterte accused of paying police to kill”
![Luis Antonio Tagle, Catholic leader of Manila, said violence cannot be the answer to the country's drug problem [Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2017/2/18/21f984638c264cd08adc9dad91a201c7_18.jpg "Thousands march against Duterte's war on drugs")
Thousands of Catholics have gathered in the Philippine capital in a “show of force” to protest extrajudicial killings being carried out under the banner of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The rally, dubbed the “Walk for Life”, was attended by 20,000 people, organisers said. Manila police estimated the crowd at 10,000.
At the biggest rally yet against the killings, members of one of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions prayed and sang hymns as they marched before dawn on Saturday, to condemn a “spreading culture of violence”.
More than 7,000 people have died since Duterte took office almost eight months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses.
The move, however, has been popular with many in the mainly Catholic nation.
“We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don’t like these extrajudicial killings,” Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo told AFP news agency before addressing the crowd.
“I am alarmed and angry at what’s happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity.”
The demonstrators also condemned legislation restoring the death penalty for drug-related crimes and other offences. Tiếp tục đọc “Thousands march against Duterte’s war on drugs”
CVD 