Duterte eyes public hangings if elected President

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would restore death penalty by hanging in public if he was elected as the country’s next president.

Duterte, who vowed to stop corruption, illegal drugs and criminality in his first three to six months in office if elected president in May 2016 polls, said in his Sunday television program, Gikan sa masa, para sa masa, that the drug problem in the country has worsened to such a degree that it has become a threat to national security.

“Addiction is easy money. Once you get it, it’s a done deal, you’re already into eternal addiction. I will not hesitate to use the military and the police and maybe, exercise the extraordinary power of the president (to stop it),” he said.

“I will recommend to Congress the restoration of death penalty by hanging in public,” Duterte said.

He said Davao City under his leadership has become known for political will as manifested by its zero casualty rate when it came to firecrackers, which the city has banned to ensure public safety.

Aside from the restoration of death penalty, he said he would propose to Congress the creation of special criminal courts to try drug cases only, and to repeal the Pangilinan Law, or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, the law that has sought to protect the rights of minors in conflict with the law, by removing the penalty of detention and imprisonment. Former senator Francisco Pangilinan, who is seeking a fresh term in the Senate, authored the law.

Duterte called this law stupid, adding that it “has not helped the country in any way but only promoted criminality.”

“It has not help the country at all but promoted criminality,” Duterte insisted, adding that young criminals have come to embody the impunity human rights groups have been complaining about.

“The impunity that human rights groups are so concerned about, it’s not really the government doing it, it’s the young criminal, for committing crime with no accountability at all. The (Pangilinan law) actually ushered the new generation of criminals.”

“In three to six months, everything has to stop,” he said, “Corruption, drug, criminality. You are oppressing the Filipinos, and I hate it,” Duterte said, referring to criminals.

“If you don’t like my style because it sounds dictatorial, then, vote for (Sen. Grace) Poe, (Vice President Jejomar) Binay, (Sen. Miriam Defensor) Santiago, forget all about me,” he added.

He said that in some places in the country, the drug menace has become so bad that drug users have resorted to paying for drugs not with cash but with goats and livestock.

“There’s always a right time for the right reason, if it’s my fate to become president, it would be the right time to stop these things,” he said.

The 70-year-old mayor admitted having ambivalent feelings about winning or losing in the upcoming elections. He said that if he lost, he would retire to private life, since his daughter, former mayor Sara Duterte, would likely win the mayoral race in this city. If he wins, he would have to spend most of his time out of Davao City.

“Maybe, this is the last time that I will address you as mayor of the city, it will no longer be the same again,” Duterte repeated what he had told his constituents in his Christmas address.

“Maybe, we’ll meet again, but I could no longer be mayor again,” he said. SFM